why do you blog?

[circlecross]

just what it says on the tin. Why? I don't understand this share-it-all stuff but after three years of possessing a myspace, I finally looked at filling it in and there is a space for a blog, and I don't know why I should write one!
(Incidentally there are some pics of the boys, and me on there if anyone is remotely interested...)

[Annpan]

I blog for 2 main reasons...
1- as a personal record, to look back on and see where we were back then.
2 - So that I don't keep repeating myself to my family and friends who want to know what we have been up to, I ask them to look at the blog.

Since I started blogging it has become

3 - more of a connection to friends who are abroad or who I haven't seen for some time.
4 - a 'kick-up-the-ass' to get stuff done, cause then I can post it on the blog
5 - a method of explaining to family and friend what we are actually trying to achive here, and how hard we are working for it.
6 - A photo album

Some members of my family (there are 25 of us) are really into it and I have converted them (just a little) to shop at farm shops, buy an apple tree, think about carbon emissions and join freecycle. Now my BIL has started giving out the address to people he knows who are into eco or selfsufficient things.

I like doing it and it is worth it if I (and others) get that much out of it

[red]

good question! I thought of 7 reasons!

reason 1:i pose I have always enjoyed writing, and you know how it is, you don't get around to it... etc.. a blog gives a reason to write.

next reason: in the spirit of the thread' meeting like minded people' actually most of my friends don't understand what I am doing, growing veg, spinning wool.. words like 'why' crop up... but when I grow my first calabrese, botch my first batch of spinning, or well.. any of that .. and I want to share my success, I see their faces glaze. I dont bore them much any more.. I tell it here or on my blog.. or both.. I have somewhere to share.

reason 3: having shared my successes and failures into the interweb thingy, I have found actually there *are* 'like minded people', and its great to connect!

reason 4: its like a personal diary too.. I have only started blogging a few months, but its already good to look back and say 'oh forgot we did that' etc - its nice for himself and me. Also it inspires me on days I feel I am not achieving much.. to realise how much we have done.

reason 5, I have rellies and my best mate living on the otherside of the world.. its a good way to keep up to date with each other.

reason 6 - its not my whole life.. there are huge chunks i dont share
reason 7 - its a useful as cross stitch or other 'creative' hobbies.. ie possibly not useful at all, but theres no harm in it.

[circlecross]

had a quick look at your blog - your life seems more exciting than mine! I seem busy enough, but not with wildly exciting things like lambing!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I put it down to a personality defect myself. That and a juvenile bid for attention.

More seriously, I do it for one of the reasons cited by Red: as a sort of diary. That practically no-one reads it is not important: I can go back and look over events again in a way that I could not do before.

I would never sit and scribe in a notebook, but being able to jot down things electronically seems oddly natural.

[camillitech]

I started mine because I've kept a diary for over 20 years and this year I forgot to buy one it's not like i can go to the corner shop and get one. I'm not sure why I kept a diary because I don't know where i've put them ( apart from one from 15/16 years ago) I've always kept diving logs and boat logs so it just seemed a natural progression, plus of course I'm a bit of an exhibitionist

Cheers, Paul

[Wombat]

Why should I be satisfied in imposing my self indulgent whittering on just my family, when I can do it to the whole damn world!

Nev

[Mainer in Exile]

I blog mostly just let off steam. With the kids at school and the wife at work, I don't often have any one to talk to, so I tell it to my blog. I also use to outline any crazy ideas that might cross my mind. It's rarely read at all, so I need not be shy about what I ramble on about.

[multiveg]

I wrote one to chart my progress on an OU creative writing course - well, I didn't keep it up that well.
I keep one for the allotment, trying to record when I sow things, etc. Still a few gaps. I am relatively isolated where I am (not as remote as some people), its a way of keeping in touch/making new "friends" who share the same interests. Also rather than posting everything across upteen messageboards (there are some with the OU, this, gardening messageboards...), just post once in a blog.
I haven't got anything on myspace page (registered but didn't like the feel of it). Facebook - haven't visited for a while.

[Karen_D]

Why should I be satisfied in imposing my self indulgent whittering on just my family, when I can do it to the whole damn world!

Exactly!

It's also a bit like having pen-pals but only having to write one letter and they all know what's happening.

[Millymollymandy]

I don't get blogs. For me diaries are personal things. All these bloggers all link to hundreds of other bloggers and it's like a whole load of people wanting to read each others diaries. Wierd.

Now websites are different - I like to look at people's websites and photos of their homes gardens etc. But what you think about, really that should be kept personal and quite frankly, it's boring! IMO of course!

I loved the lady in Tasmania's website (Cornelian - where has she gone?). It was wonderful, but it wasn't a day by day blog.

[Stonehead]

Some of my reasons are similar to those of Annpan, Camillitech and Wombat, but there are two more and one's very important.

My blog (and this forum) are my two main means of meeting other like-minded people and exchanging ideas, hints, tips and rants. While I live in a rural area, we're a long way removed philosophically and socially from either the villagers (very suburban) or the large-scale farmers.

There are a few like-minded people in the wider area, but we've only found them via the blog (and this forum again) as none live especially close to us.

I'd have little contact with people who accept what we do, much less actively support it, without either the blog or Ish. It's why I always try to make time to post in both places, unless very pushed for time.


My other key reason for maintaining the blog is to give back what's been given to me over the years. Many people have shared their knowledge with me, the least I can do is share mine.






Oh, and yes, I do like to indulge in a rant now and again...

[baldowrie]

I started my blog because I need some where to rant and rage without doing it to my overburdened family. I also wanted to bring to the attention of others the plight many with children like myself have go through just to get a little support, or should I say don't get.

[Annpan]

I agree with everything Stonehead said...

I would also like to add that I was inspired by Stonehead greatly, but when I started out on this road (about 2 years ago) it would have baffled me completely... as amazing as everything on Stonehead blog is, it was mostly over my head. Pigs, fields full of potatoes, breeding chickens, splitting wood, planting trees... etc... It is now exactly the kind of stuff I want to read about, as it is helpfull advice and achivable for us now.

So another reason for starting my blog was for other people who were trying to escape the rat-race, urban, consumer lifestyle... they could watch our progress and learn with us.

Neither of us were brought up in this, we are learning everything as we go, sometimes from books but mostly from this site.

Maybe it would be nice for others to watch our progress and pitfalls in leading a more self-sufficient life.


I think I am having a random rambeling day today... sorry

[red]

Why should I be satisfied in imposing my self indulgent whittering on just my family, when I can do it to the whole damn world!

Nev

I like this answer the best!