Saturday, October 3, 2009

I've Been Challenged!

Blog Writing Challenge:
Why do you blog? What do you hope to get out of this challenge?

A high school friend of mine, who I’ve reconnected with through various social networking platforms, including a mom’s group message board, has issued a blog challenge. This challenge is rather timely, as my blog seems to have hit a bit of a dry spell. So, challenge duly accepted!

Why do you blog?
I started blogging during my last year of law school. I jumped on the bandwagon as a way to stay in touch with friends, as an attempt to entertain myself and others, bitch about life, and just plain old pass the time. And I would be remiss if I failed to mention that I like words--reading them, writing them, and crafting them into thoughtful…, well, thoughts.

For a time, I even aspired to be a writer. But I hated journalism in school and frankly, I don’t think I have the chops to be some great novelist or essayist. And in my estimation, if I can’t be great at it, I don’t want to have any part of it. I’m a little faint-of-heart whereas the idea of harsh criticism is more than I can bear and there’s only so much delusion that my ego and I can feign.

I digress.

I’m currently reading Julie and Julia (no, I have not yet seen the movie). I’ve just read Julie’s discussion on the reasons people blog from a 2002 perspective, when blogging was less of a thing. She compares it to the reasons 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys may have kept his 9-year diary. And that Pepys, in stark contrast to bloggers, did not share his diary with the public, that is, until it was published in 1825. Whereas modern day diaries, blogs, are out there for anyone who is so inclined in our voyeuristic universe to peruse.

Brass tacks: I blog for me. It makes me happy to craft words together. But if I just like to write solely for my own pleasure alone, I would keep a private diary, not a blog. So why do I put it out there for anyone to see? Not because I necessarily think I have anything particularly interesting to share with the world, but because I still like to entertain (I also wanted to be a performer when I was a kid, one of those triple threats—actor/dancer/singer). And admittedly, I still harbor teensy, tiny aspirations that my writing turn into more than just a hobby.

What do you hope to get out of this challenge?
Since graduating from law school, life has had this way of interfering with my writing/blogging. And more often than not, I find myself at a loss for entertaining or interesting topics to write about. Because, let’s face it, my life ain’t all that interesting.

So if nothing else, I hope it takes away any excuse I may have NOT to sit down and write at least once a week. I also hope it will bring me closer to the community of women and mothers engaging in the challenge, most of whom I haven’t had the chance to get to know just yet.