When I started blogging in 2005, non-bloggers didn't read blogs. In fact, the word "blog" meant nothing to most people, so I had to tell everyone that I had a "web site."
No one cared.
It was fine.
To gain any sort of readership, I had to go out in the blogging world and make blogging friends. After about a year of effort, I found a place in an online community. I had friends! I had readers! It was really fun!
Now, almost seven years later, that community has nearly dissolved. Most of the friends I made in the early days of blogging post very rarely, if at all. We're still friends, and we stay in touch in other ways (save for a few people), but there is a major lack of blogging now.
When this started, I felt very torn. It seemed like, because my friends who had been blogging the same amount of time I had were moving on, I should move on, too. But I wasn't ready. I still loved blogging, and I didn't want to quit. So over time, one by one, my little community vanished, and I was left hanging on to my blog like a person who won't move on from a dated fashion trend.
I guess now is a good time to interject that I'm not writing a good-bye speech - I'm still hanging on to my dated fashion trend - but I do feel that the passion is dying. Not because I, personally, don't want to blog anymore, but because my community is gone. It's kind of lonely.
I've never been one to read blogs with high readership. There are about three exceptions, but mostly, I stick to the small, precious gems that I've found among the masses of commercial blogs. Lately, I've been opening a near-empty feed reader. There are only about three posts that come through each day because most of the blogs I'm subscribed to are building up dust.
Now I'm left contemplating the future of my blog. Will the day come when I walk away and feel good about it? Or will I continue to hold on to my high-waisted Girbauds because they're due to be cool again any minute now?
I guess I'll just take it as it comes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
I know how you feel. It's so weird how the blogging community has changed. Or rather, OUR community.
I don't want to lose my archives, so I just can't bring myself to get rid of the blog. And so I keep paying for it. Which kills me.
:-)
I think you should keep writing:
a) you are an amazing writer
b) you are funny
c) you sometimes say things we (the readers) need to hear or mean a lot to us
p.s. thanks for the comments on my blog. They always make me happy. I love that your kids ask for different creatures in the doggy song.
I'm around for the same reasons as Isabel, which is why she is my Blogging Soul Sister, and you are, too. I fully intend to blog, but then life happens and I'm overcommitting to so many things (like misspelling overcommitting...if it's even a word). But I love reading about your life and keeping in touch. I know that's not the same give and take, as you're giving and not getting back much. I'm trying. I mean well. Don't quit!!!!!! Please?!?!
Ditto.
I really miss my blog pals in a major way. The last couple of years have been so rough that blogging has taken a seat wayyy in the back. I still have everyone in my reader and read when they post, I just don't have the energy to write a post myself.
I feel like I was part of that community. I wish I had kept up with it and I hope you see the value in it. It's selfish, but even though I stopped writing, I don't want you to stop! And I've been too lazy to find more blogs like yours (everything seems to be so commercial)...I would really, really miss it.
I'm with you on the non-commercial blog. I've never accepted ads on my blog, and I don't intend to. I don't want to be sponsored. I skip posts of others that are sponsored, I never click their ads, I rarely enter their contests...I want to read about THEM, not about the way they market themselves.
xox
I love reading your blog because you are so truthful and down-to-earth. I hope you don't stop but I can totally understand if you do.
I'd be sad if you disappeared, but I know that's not reason enough for you to keep writing.
It's hard when one's community changes--whether that be online or in the neighborhood at home or even at church.
But like all things, and perhaps moreso because it changes so rapidly, the online community changes and so maybe there is a new and even more enriching one out there for you.
I really enjoy reading your blog, for what it's worth! I never comment. I'll try to comment more often. I know it must be meaningful to hear people's responses to what you write. Thanks for doing this!
I feel this way sometimes too. I love my blog, but as I watch people coming and going and me just still writing away, I wonder how long do I stay? FOREVER? Because I kinda want to stay forever. And yet... it seems like people are really jumping off the blogging ship. I will be right there beside you, wearing our out of fashion outfits knowing that someday REALLY SOON people are going to remember how cool this is :)
i agree! so many bloggers i've read for years have slowly started to disappear and it makes me sad. i also usually stick to smaller ones as you can actually have a relationship with them as opposed to seeing all their sponsored posts.
i know i don't comment much, but your posts always make me laugh!
I was already blogging less, but now that I work a job where I'm busy and don't have countless hours of down time, I almost never blog anymore. A random recipe here and there, but I feel as though I've lost my mojo. I still like reading your blog though.
I'd miss you if you were gone. I've been writing on the internet before blogs were called blogs, I don't think I could stop if I wanted to!
You can't quit until you do my game review. And then you can't quit because how will I internet stalk you? It will be way harder! And you can't quit because your blog is awesome.
I don't know if I count as part of your community but I'm still here and I'm still blogging. I tried to quit once and it just never felt right...I had to come back.
I'm noticing the same thing and it makes me sad. Of course, I never had the same amount of comments and community that you did, but I never want to give up my blog.
Post a Comment