I occasionally get questions about my blog site — why I do it, how much I pay for it, what I write about — and sometimes those questions are hard to answer, but here, I’ll give it a try.
I started this blog because a friend of mine in Washington, DC had one. I asked about it, and Marti suddenly presented me with a blog of my own. He set it up for me initially, and I just started writing. It made sense; he’s the computer guy, I’m the frustrated writer. Soon it became my way to keep in touch with people all over the world. I never knew if I would keep going and I never imagined I would get even as many hits a day as I do now. About 200 people view my site every day, which shocks me. Who are you? What makes this site interesting to you? And could you convince a publisher to publish a book for me?
Marti picked the name for me and paid for the initial space. I still pay for my own blog space (about $30/year), which means that everything on this site is mine. This means the constantly-changing ads — those are mine, and revenue from them goes to me. The flickr bar? Mine. The design is currently borrowed from others more talented than myself, but I hope to one day redesign the site with all original content. It is a creative outlet that I don’t get other places. There is no boss telling me whether or not I can or cannot do something — the only limit is my ability and my time. Last night I was up until 12:30 a.m. fussing with the ads (how do you like the graphic ads to the right?) and learning CSS tags. Sometimes it is just my way to unwind.
Other than a creative outlet, this site has been a great experiment for me. I get a chance to air my thoughts — I think best when I write, after all — and push the envelope a tiny bit from time to time. I love the blogging world. It’s the cyberspace equivalent to the wild wild west. Conspiracy theories? Yes. Weird, freaky sites? Yes. A little illegal stuff? Here and there. Politics? Everywhere. But we’ve brought down two politicians, we bloggers. And we’ve supported each other. And we’ve made, in some weird way, a community. So, although in the early days the term “blogger” seemed a bit foreign to me, these days I feel the way early investigative reporters must have felt — a bit powerful and part of a “new era” of transparency (at least until the powers that be figure out how to stifle this “new era,” anyway).
My reasons for blogging now are different than when I began. At first, it was a relief just to write and to publish my writing. Now I write to an audience of friends, family and crazy people who come here to get a peek into my life. Sometimes I try to be funny. Sometimes my own writing shows I need a little help. But the best part of it all, is that it is mine.
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