I don’t remember where I read it, but I have always been fascinated by the idea of a writer as “someone who has written today“. In a sense it’s even more true for a blogger – if you haven’t written today, if you’ve fallen out of the habit of blogging, you can’t really call yourself a blogger. And no matter how bad or good your work, as long as you’re writing every day, as long as you feel the compulsion to blog, you are a blogger. Even if no one reads a word you write.
Most people who start a blog never become bloggers. They write once, or maybe a few times, and then abandon the exercise. Those who catch the bug tend to keep at it for a while, but sooner or later their posts thin out and eventually they realise that they are “ex-bloggers”. As an ex-blogger, I find myself wondering about two things – what makes people stop, and is it possible to become a true blogger once again?
Some people say they stop because they don’t have the time, but for me that seems like more of an excuse than a reason. There’s also a sense of losing the urge to write. But more than that, I wonder if there’s a sense of growing expectations. When I stopped blogging, I didn’t stop wanting to blog. I didn’t stop thinking about things that might become good ideas. I didn’t even stop writing things. I just stopped finishing them. It just seemed like the things I wrote weren’t “good enough”. And the longer you’ve been gone, the more you think you need to return with a bang.
Well, I haven’t returned with a bang. I can’t say whether I’ve returned at all. But I’ve volunteered to host the nest Berry-Go-Round. And now, I think, is as good a time as any to try my hand at writing again.
Filed under: Blogging
