For the Love of Blogging

Is it a dying phenomenon?  This blogging.

Borrowed from a blog who borrowed it from someone else's blog is this:

Mostly blogs ebb and flow with the life rhythms of their creator. Graduate students with blogs get deep into their dissertations, or finish a dissertation, and decide to put aside a blog. Babies arrive, or people get seriously ill. Work makes new demands, and takes energies away from a blog.
However, I think there’s also something about the form itself that poses a problem, and that the problem has gotten more acute as blogging has evolved as a practice. A self-aware blog writer eventually starts to recognize static or repetitive patterns in their posting that threaten to devolve into schtick. Readers may not object: in fact, the larger and more stable a community of readers a blogger has, the more they may in fact come to rely on the blogger to merely convene or spark a rolling conversation among commenters, to be the rhetorical equivalent of comfort food.

After more research, I learned that 11% of blogs die after one year.  Those who remain open may fizzle, but surprisingly, most remain alive, changing and evolving with time.

Interesting.

And I'm still stuck on the concept of blogging "comfort food".  Like blogging that makes you fat?  Ha ha.

It's true that there isn't always this amazing something to share.  Or life is just too personal to put it out there for the whole world to see.

Or we just run out of something new to say.

Or we're sure you're falling asleep hearing the only thing we can think of to say.

Unlike books, life isn't always suspenseful, exciting and living on the edge.  But what we read should be.  That's why we read.  Even blogs.  We like to know what goes on in other people's heads.  Their genius and their idiosyncrasies.  We like good news, sometimes bad news, and we love to learn something new.  

I recently read a blog about trying to lose weight followed up by some good old fast food.  And I laughed.  Mostly because it was real.  Then I looked at pictures on a blog showing us her monthly weight loss- and it was inspiring, because it was real.

I sound like I'm obsessed with weight.  Actually, I am researching another book idea.  Fiction, of course.  Which I have no business doing because I'm in middle of writing something else, and I really should edit another manuscript before I even think about writing another book.

But it's still interesting to me.  

What's your thoughts on the blogging world?

Still ...

Last night my 7-yr. old daughter asked me when my new book cover was coming out. "Well, didn't you say you've written some more books?" she asked.

Yes, I have. But I'm still looking for a home for them. How do you explain that to a girl who has seen a new book for as long as she can remember? Isn't it that time of year again when I have a new book come out?

It does make me wistful. It even makes me almost willing to throw a book at a small press just to see a book cover. And I may still do that, eventually.

But right now, it's not time. Right now, writing has taken over. I need to finish what I started. Who knows if I'll sell this new one either, but I will get it done.

And whether it's this story, or three more stories from now, I am absolutely going to get where I plan to be.

Sometimes plans can take their own road, that's for sure.

On a different note, the LDStorymakers Conference is coming up in TWO WEEKS!!! Whew. I can hardly believe it. No. Seriously. I remember how busy I was last year, and I had a genius author helping me out and doing most of the work. This year I know is going to be just as busy, if not a touch more.

I love this conference. It's amazing. Hands down my favorite writers conference. If you're going, I can't wait to see you, or meet you for the first time. My goal is to make new friends, and keep the old.

If you're not there this year, and you're a writer, you should consider going next year. It's worth it.

Shooting for the Stars

I'm finally feeling a little caught up. I'm sure it's a temporary thing, but at I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

I've been helping organize a small part of the LDStorymakers Conference coming up May3-5. As I was working through some of the scheduling, I was given a small piece of perspective that I am every so grateful to have.

I'm not the only one.

I spend too much time beating myself up for not reaching my goals/dreams. It's not that I have ever stopped working towards them, but in the end, for my goals to be realized, someone else has to see my work and decide to take it on.

In other words, my goals are impossible for me to accomplish alone. Of course, this makes me wonder if my goals are realistic. And honestly, it doesn't even matter of they are because I can't change my dream. I even tried, but I can't.

And as I scheduled pitch sessions for over a hundred other writers, I saw over a hundred other writers in my same boat. A goal/dream that can not be realized without the help of someone else.

I'm not sure why this felt like such a comfort to me, but it did. I know a lot of these people and I can tell you first-hand that they are talented writers. So, if there are tons of talented writers out there still shooting for their star even if there is no promise they'll hit it, I guess it's okay for me to be one of them.

It makes me wonder if they beat themselves up like I do. At the end of the day, do they ever feel like their value can be measured in rejections? I know I shouldn't, but it's hard not to wonder if I'll ever be good enough to get to where I can't stop wanting to be.

And even if I'm not there yet, I sort of count on the fact that since I can't quit, I'm only going to get better with time. If I never stop writing, one of these days I'm going to write that book that gets that contract.

Then again, should I never reach that star, I can honestly say that I have still learned a lot in the process of trying to get there. Experience is an education.

To all of you still shooting for your star, don't give up. Somehow it will all be worth it in the end.