Hi, anyone out there?
It’s been – ahem – a while since I last updated. I swore I would not be one of those people who kept a blog for a month and then never looked at it again. And yet.
Basically, I stopped updating because I realized that I had no idea what I wanted this blog to be. My intentions were originally for this to be a personal blog (or perhaps, more accurately, an impersonal blog) in which I wrote about whatever happened to be on my mind. It became clear, though, that I mostly was writing about Chicago weather and my marathon training, punctuated by the occasional random entry that didn’t seem to fit in the larger context of the site. I didn’t feel like my weather geekiness and running adventurers were all that interesting to anyone but myself, seeing as I am by no means an expert in either field. There are also a whole slew of entries, including a few movie and theatre reviews, that I wrote but never published, mainly because they didn’t seem to fit in the larger context of this blog. In short, I feel like the blog as it currently stands lacks both an identity and a purpose outside of biding my time.
I definitely want to keep writing, but I’m not sure what about because I don’t know what I want this project to be. I know that I’d rather it not be merely a whiny, self-indulgent, rambling mess. I mean, it can certainly be that (aren’t most blogs, after all?) but I rather it have some other purpose. So, I ask other writers out there: how did you decide what to write about? What keeps you writing? If you have a personal blog, do you mainly use it as a public diary or a way to let off steam? I’d love to hear what you have to say.
1 Comment
April 23, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I’ve written about the very same thing; this entry could have been written by me! I’ve changed my blog name several times, I’ve struggled as well with its purpose. And all that recently. What I can say now is I can’t help but write whatever I am thinking and feel like, and I’ve come to the conclusion that in the meantime, it’s not such a bad thing. Sooner or later, this blog will define itself as I become more focused, if I ever become more focused. In the meantime, people still read it and comment on it, and if it’s about weather and running, so long as it’s well written, who cares? People will read it. I’m here, after all, aren’t I? Write whatever comes to mind. It’s what makes you you, what makes you interesting.