Could this be more boring? Probably yes, but not much more. I am wondering why I should blog and who my audience and purpose would be. In traditional rhetoric, no one writes without a purpose and an audience, but oh well, that was before the Internet. Nowadays it is possible to write without a purpose and an audience. I, for that matter, have no idea why I am writing here, or who will read. It is worse than messaging in a bottle because in that situation at least there was a purpose: "Find me, and save me!" In my case, there is no such desperation involved--unless it is so subconscious I will never be able to admit.
Writing a blog attracts me, but I am still clueless. I see how finding a direction, adding pictures and trying to garner an audience might be to my advantage, but I still don't know how to go about it.
Oddly enough, my daughter has been running a successful blog already. It is odd because she never was known to be a great writer; except, she always did write, and that matters a lot. I guess it was easy to turn her journal habit into something a little bit more public. She started with honest personal blabber addressing the audience of young mothers with a baby, adds great pictures, and soon finds herself liked by over a hundred people. Once that happens, commercial links may not be far behind. Since she shops fancy brands, that stage has already set in, too, and she has links to companies.
Now me, I am a different case. I consider myself an expert writer, but oddly enough, I do not write much. Or, perhaps it is fair to say that I write more than I realize I do, but I rarely write for my own satisfaction and honest expression. Let's just leave it at that for now before I reveal more of my identity.
Unlike my daughter, I am not a great consumer, and at least at this point I have no idea how to turn any part of me into a product. So, until further notice, I am just blogging away.
2 comments:
There is nothing wrong with blogging for self-satisfaction. Indeed you are an excellent writer and thus there is not a need to have to "market" yourself.
Sometimes personal ramblings are just a piece of leaking brain waves, other times they are the sharing of yourself that you hope to offer as understanding or encouragement to others.
I might be mistaken, but I believe blogs started as a means of expression, not as a commercial enterprise, so what you are endeavoring to do here might be called blogging in the purest sense. Back in the day, (hard to believe how fast this phenomena has transformed the landscape) there were two types of blogs: those that sought to circumvent the press (and thus publish unfiltered opinions or reports), and those that were at first called cyber-journals (or diaries). I recall Time (or maybe Newsweek?) wondering what the point was, with regard to the latter type. Schooled in the same rhetorical theory, that all writing must have an intended audience, this kind of writing made no sense to them. Ha! Were they ever wrong!
As blogs gained readership, capitalism knocked at the door and asked, "Hey, couldn't we make some money here?" And now there's a third, theme-based blog that does have an intended readership (like minded people) and sells advertising precisely because it successfully attracts an audience.
It seems to me that the rhetoric books are going to have to be rewritten.
With all due respect to the authors of this type of blog, I favor the open ended, expressive blog. So keep on writing, Ildiko!
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