I've been blogging since 2008. I first came across blogs when Wife in the North began blogging. As a journalist with the Sunday Times, she moved to the North East and wrote in an amusing way about the change in pace up there compared to London. One of her quotes which stuck with me was, when asked by her children on a car journey "where are we?", she replied "1959".
I then began blogging myself when my alcoholic husband Greg was making our family life intolerable. At the time, I believed trying to suppress everything and bottle it up, not telling friends and family, was the best option, but then needed somewhere to go to blow off steam. The blog provided me with that escape and tons of steam. It was a help for my sanity as well as a record where we were heading. I soon discovered I had a lot of followers - some in pretty much similar circumstances to me who all said they were relieved to read my experiences were like theirs. I also had a lot of alcoholic followers who, by the time Greg was fading fast and dying, said it had helped them back from the brink to sobriety. They realised they could not put themselves or their family through what was becoming my reality.
Of course, since Greg has died, my blog has morphed into something else - the ramblings or rantings of a retired, widowed Londoner. For me it has been a diary of important events to look back on - some things I had forgotten entirely when rereading some of the older posts. My followers seem to have dwindled from 70 at one stage to one or two now. Maybe the drama is what they came for and now the boring posts don't cut the mustard. For me, it will always just be a diary. I try to write once a week to keep it going, although to be honest, sometimes it is difficult to come up with something new. I oscillate between stopping altogether, but being afraid to drop a comfort blanket.
Some bloggers post everyday. Some of the earlier blogs I visited no longer exist, including Wife in the North. I wonder why you blog or why you read other's blogs?
9 comments:
I like to read other people's blogs as it gives me an insight into other people's worlds, I think I'm just nosy! Even if you think your blog is not interesting I'm sure there are many like me who read every post but don't often comment. Please keep going!
I think we come to a point as to why we are writing and whether to go private or not but somehow it seems wrong to give in to one's insecurity. My motto - write as you think. Also as Jo has said our insatiable curiosity when reading other people's blogs and the fascinating worlds we are led into. I mean we can travel the world through blogs ;)
As Jo said, I also love to read other people's blogs as I find peeking into other lives fascinating. I don't always comment on them but I do where the blogger tends to respond to each comment as I feel as though we are having a friendly conversation.
I hope you continue with your blog as I enjoy reading your posts. Not boring at all!
Like you I started reading blogs after reading Wife in the North, the quote that I remember is when she told her sons they were moving up north and one of them said “will there be bears?”
Yours and indeed all the blogs I read are so well written that even the most ordinary of days seem interesting. I find that reassuring. I hope you all keep going.
I don’t remember how I found you, but you wrote so well about your life, that I just kept coming back. I looked at how I was living, and thought through a few things, and had some realizations. Your writing made me think and remember. Thank you for that. Olivia in the PNW, USA.
I've long dropped off the blogland map. I do occasionally pop back to see how old friends are doing
I am glad I came across your blog - was it by a comment you left on mine, or maybe a mutual blogger whose posts we both read and comment on? In any case, my original motivation for starting to blog was similar to yours, with an alcoholic husband making life difficult. And I started not that much later than you, in March 2009.
In 2010, I wrote about why I blog here:
https://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2010/09/dear-dashboard.html
By then, my husband was dead nearly a year, and in that post, I only revealed part of my reasons for blogging. And again similar to you, over time my motivation for blogging and the contents of my posts have been shifting. It's a living thing, reflecting where I stand in life, and written for myself as well as for those who care to read it.
Like Meike, I am glad that I came across your blog and it was your "voice" that called me - nothing to do with Greg or alcoholism and the cruel drama that that engendered. I blog because I like blogging and I am not going to scrutinise my reasons any more than that. I hope you will keep on. When all is said and done blogging provides a window on the world and you never know who you will "meet".
I started blogging at least 10 years ago. I was really keen at first, but gradually have slowed down. I love having that little peek into someone else's life. And I like finding something that interests me and writing about it and wondering if it will interest someone else too. Keep on blogging, it's fun.
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