Saturday, October 1, 2011

Why I Blog…

My first NaBloWriMo post! Ever!

I blog because mass emails are a pain in the ass and the audience is quite limited.

I blog because I’ve learned to look at life, pick the sleep out of its eyes, wipe its nose, pat it on the head and send it on its way. Then I write about the experience and poke fun at it.

I blog because I love to share. I love to make people laugh, cry, think, or roll their eyes.

I blog because my ego insists I do it.

I blog because if I don’t, I get cranky, whiney, and hard to live with.

I blog because I love it, and I love the friends I’ve made while blogging.

If I could, I would gather you all up and we’d have a month long slumber party… wait, I already used that line on another blog. Damn it.

Ok, if I could, I’d blog about my brothers and my sisters, aaaaalllll over this laaaaand… oooh, oooh, oooh!

For the longest time, my favorite writer was Erma Bombeck. I loved the way she spun humor into her stories, and while a little voice in the back of my head kept saying, “you know, her life isn’t always that funny,” the louder voice said, “SHUT THE FUCK UP, I’M HAVING FUN HERE!”

Then I found Lauri Notaro and thought, “yeah, this is more like my life. I’m not the innocent Erma type; I’m the earthy, oops-my-boob-is-in-my-guacamole kind of gal." Note: my boobs have NEVER been in guacamole. Never. Not saying they never will, however, just not up to this point.

So, I figured I could join the fun and write about my life. After all, it was pretty damn funny at times, but getting published? Not likely, but I kept writing letters to fill that sharing need. Then someone (I think it was my ‘not-ex-at-that-time’) suggested blogging.

It took a long time to convince me that I wasn’t going to crash the entire internet all by myself, no matter how hard I tried, and believe me I tried REALLY hard. Mind you, I’d cut my teeth on AO-Hell and the forums contained therein. I had no idea what the REAL internet was all about until we went to a different ISP. It was a Wile E. Coyote moment of running full blast – right over a cliff.

Long story short, I ended up on Blogger because, like A-Oh-Well it was easy and held my hand, whispering soothing words of encouragement while I fiddled with stuff. Then I changed the look of my blog and it lost all my links and refused to give them back, so I was pissed. But it was still whispering and caressing my hands, even when I went over to Wordpress and got REALLY confused…

I blog because I’m a writer, not a computer genius.

I blog because I’d had to keep that writer trussed up in duct tape and foil for years in order to be a “good Christian wife and mother” and give up what some people in our church called “foolish things” like writing. Not-ex-at-the-time did buy me a computer so I could write children's books or young adult Christian books. Writing fantasy or humor was not productive.

I blog because I love it and I can write what I want.

I blog because I love blogging, being a writer, and sharing, and I love my friends, and this is cheaper than long-distance phone calls (especially the ones to the other side of the globe).

Tomorrow: My BIG news! The Interview!

7 comments:

  1. I'm just happy you blog!

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  2. I agree with you on SO MANY of these fronts, and YOU my friend, have a fabulous voice. I chuckled all the way through.

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  3. sharing, which I keep hearing, is one of the main reason I blog. so, thanks for sharing your thoughts on why you blog. I've also tried wordpress but never seriously consider switching. Blogger is still my one and only favorite blog platform.

    are you the same Karen that runs 'A Novel Place'? I think you are. I believed I have visited you before on a different blog. anyway, I hope you have a lovely october.

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  4. Sounds interesting and glad to see you on the NABLOWRIMO blogroll!

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  5. So nice to meet you and your blog. A very enjoyable read for sure, thanks for writing :)

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  6. Happy you blog.
    Thanks for the reminder, I'm going to get the girls out of the guac now.
    Cheers,
    B
    P.S. I think you would write one heck/hell of a Christian YA Novel. But you'd have to do it from your current perspective and not the old vantage point. I think it would be hilarious and insightful. (ok, I'll admit, I'm a secular humanist liberal living in the polyester underdrawers of the bible belt and I'm trying to escape)

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  7. I'm glad you blog. More glad than you know. I'm glad in the mornin', I'm glad in the evenin'. In fact, I'm glad all over this land. Yeehaaaa!

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