My Blogging Community

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.