Bloggy bloggy blog blog blog
The Irish Blog Awards were last weekend. Most people missed it but I for one wish I had been there. I read a bunch of blogs every day and I find about a third of them are Irish blogs. Most if not all of them are fun and funny and very well done.
Kathy Foley wrote an article in the Irish Sunday Times the following day and it wasn’t very well received.
Why do we blog? Why do you blog? Why do I blog? Why is one blogger referred to as a legend and another called a hack? Why did Sweary stop blogging? Why are people busting on Twenty’s book?
So many questions have been raised.
It was January of just last year when Jefferson Davis talked me into starting this experiment in journaling my thoughts and opinions. I like it. That probably more than any other reason is why I have continued. I have written a few posts that I look back on and say, “Damn, that was good!”. Mostly though I couldn’t care less if people like what I write or don’t. A bunch of folk have told me the series I wrote that I called Arabian Daze was very well done. As I re-read it I don’t think so. I could re-write it and think it was better but it is what I wrote at that time so it is what it is.
This is also why I like so many different and varied blogs. Most of the blogs I haunt on a regular basis are just folks who write what they want as opposed to someone writing an article for public consumption.
I liked Twenty’s book. I could sit here and pick it apart but I won’t because at the end… I enjoyed reading it. I hope to someday find the infamous Ron’s Bar and have a pint. Don’t we all?
So use the comments and tell me why you blog.
What’s with Sweary? I wish she would resume her blogging duties but that’s just me ya’ know.
If I want my daily fix of politics there are so so many blogs out there much better than anything I may put together. I love reading Debbie Schlussel, Monica Crowley and Michelle Malkin. That and I try to listen to Glenn Beck every morning. If I want Irish politics I have any number of blogs to peruse. My favorites are Grandad, Bock, Off the Meatrack, and Politics.IE. I also get emails from the IAIS so as to keep me current on what’s going on in the occupied counties of Norn Iron.
Tiocfaidh ár Lá
When I want news I go to the wires. The hell with CBSNBCBBCFOXSKYABCCNNMSNBCCNBC.
Yahoo News and Breitbart are great jumping off points. Oh and yes I check Mr. Drudge a few times a day.
Now you see many folks read my blog and some like it and come back and some never return. That’s OK. That’s how it’s supposed to work. I really like all the blogs who won their respective IBA’s but I just got an award that means a lot to me. I received a “You Make My Day” award from K8 the Gr8.
What more do I need?
Ná cailligí an craic
I started blogging as an experiment in marketing – and because I was curious. Now I blog for the fun of it and to be connected to people I like and enjoy. When it stops being fun, I’ll stop blogging. Or, when life gets too busy, blogging will take a backseat. But I find if I stop for any length of time, I miss blogging and the people I’ve “met”. It’s a whole community out here and as one blogger put it, people have become my blog friends and blog kin. And that’s pretty cool.
And do you know what, Brian, your writing and story telling ability has improved hugely over the months you’ve been blogging! Keep going, you might just hit the best seller list and make John Grisham move over!
Who said you were a hack? You’re no hack, buddy.
This is a pretty accurate breakdown of the blogging world… I’m not sure why I like blogging so much now, all I know is that if you hadn’t commented on my very first myspace blog, I wouldn’t have had the same buzz to entice me over to real blogging. You got me hooked, man!
Thanks for the kind words Brian.
This whole kerfuffle over blogging is really amusing to me. People seem to act like blogging is some kind of lumbering beast in the hills or something, like its a tangible entity. At the end of the day it’s writing published on the internet! Its words. It has no rules, no boundaries. Nothing should be expected of blogging. Or bloggers. Its great there’s this community that has built up around it, and it should grow. But journalists looking in with scorn amuse me. They’re either scared that their monopoly is threatened or they just don’t get it. It’s words on the internet!
I think over on Kathy Foley’s blog Grannymar said something along the lines of “Why should bloggers write well??|” and shes right! Its your blog. Put what you like on it.
Why do I blog? First and foremost I like writing. Its a hobby. Sometimes I write well, sometimes I don’t. But I’m not being paid so I don’t care too much. My personal quality criteria is the Andy Kaufman model; What ever amuses me is good enough. if it entertains me, it goes. If people like it? Bonus. Im not costing anybody money.
I started blogging by accident. Im into web design and coding, so I started one many moons ago to see if i could set one up and tinker with it under the hood, then I got hooked into the “content” part.
I’d love to be paid to write, but I’m ok with my little corner of the internet to be honest.
Reading blogs is one of my favourite past times, and I read daily everyone on my blogroll and beyond. Its just a past time at the end of the day. It can be used for very serious purposes, and lots of great, serious content has and will be delivered through blogs. But its important to keep all this in perspective.
I’m with AV do it when you like and stop when it becomes a chore. What started as a personal journal went public because I wasn’t competent enough to click the ‘private’ button. Then when others start to comment, it’s quite flattering and pleasant. I spend a lot of time alone with my thoughts and it beats doing a Shirley Valentine and talking to the fridge! It allows for people to comment straight away (well overnight for me) . . what newspaper article allows you to do that!
Plus it’s my intention to actually meet quite a few of my bloggers when finances permit. Like today for instance . . . I’m home with the snots but can still connect with people via the blog without passing on my germs! It beats watching telly, provides an outlet for personal and political frustrations, keeps me connected with friends and family and provides entertainment. If you don’t like blogging/bloggers . . .don’t venture into their domain. I don’t care for funnel web spiders so I don’t go round looking under rocks and leaf mulch!
What more do I need?
A life maybe? Lol … just playin’. Keep up the damn fine work.
I do it for the babes and cashola! Nuff said.