The Interview Part I

Fellow blogger Nutmeg offered to interview me, and I accepted. She has asked me five questions, to which I will respond in segments because my brain can't sustain the concentration required for five whole questions at once. Here is today's question:

Why do you blog? What have you learned from the blogging experience?

I started blogging as a way to hold myself accountable in my writing. I have written in a journal since the earth cooled (aka the 1980's), but it ended up being a very boring and tedious recounting of activities in my life. Then Al Gore kindly invented the internet, and soon blogging took hold. I found that if I blog, I need to focus on actually having a point and practicing the discipline of saying it well. At the same time, it is not so formal that I need to stress about how I write. That is to say, I can "publish" without being perfect. Blogging is forgiving. It has taken a few years to be comfortable with the practice, and now I'm more ok with sharing my writing, so it has turned into a way of staying in touch with family and friends, although they never post comments and I don't even know if they are still reading this (ahem... DAD). I'm still nervous about letting my husband read it, strangely enough. He knows I blog, but I haven't given him the url yet. That's probably because he writes for a living.

The question of why I blog is different than why I write, but I will answer that one, too. I write because my head will explode if I don't. And a headless me would not be a pretty sight. My good skin is probably my best feature, and with no head for it to show, there aren't many redeeming qualities left. Seriously, now... The aforementioned Dad, a lifelong editor, wonderful advice-giver and all-around good guy is fond of saying "Writers write." I've read of many a famous author saying that it is a feeling of being compelled, and this is certainly true in my case. It's like trying to describe the feeling of wanting to have children. You just do. Then you go through the labor of actually writing, and the delivery of the work. Me, I choose an early epidural that is blogging. Not so painful as having to go through too much editing or agonizing.

What have I learned through blogging? Three things, mainly.

1. The blogging community is so interesting! You read other people's words, you post, they post on yours, and it is a new dimension of friendship and support. It is so cool!
2. I am learning, as per said father's coaching, that I need to write with a beginning, middle, and end. I'm still working on this one.
3. I've always said that I long to write, but I have nothing to say. I still don't have much to say, but that's ok. I've been reading authors like Annie LaMott and Elizabeth Gilbert, and am finding that their paths and their thoughts are interesting. Fascinating, even. My experience my not be that different than others, but my journey is my own, and my way of reflecting on it is good enough.

Thanks, Nutmeg, for this question. Stay tuned for Part Deux tomorrow.