For the Love of the Blog

Sometimes you do something just because you love it. You crumple up the  rules, put a match to the instructions and act from your gut because loving what you do is sometimes the best reason of all to actually do something.

I’ve learned this from the most unexpected place.

I’ve been reading up on the elements of a successful blog and it’s brought me to one conclusion. Well, one big conclusion with lots of bullet points. The big conclusion has become my mantra in recent weeks:

I write this blog for me, not for you. Because I love to write.

I write this blog for me, not for you. Because I love to write.

I write this blog for me, not for you. Because I love to write.

I’ve been repeating it dogmatically (and possibly incessantly) in hopes that it will start to sink in. In hopes that if I declare it frequently and definitively I will begin to own it, or at least own it until I don’t want to own it anymore. Because the truth is I want you to read my blog. I want you to like my blog. Actually, I want lots of people to read and like my blog even though I casually pretend that neither matter because . . . insert mantra. 

But I’ve hit a snag. The elements that build bigger, smarter, more popular blogs don’t necessarily match my big conclusion, which has thrown me into a bit of a quandary. . .

which is what has gotten me thinking about doing something you love simply because you love to do it

and because you believe in the process it invokes more than you believe in following the rules

and because you believe in yourself just enough to follow your gut

but not quite enough to chuck the entire playbook.

Keeping with the blog analogy, here’s what they say: Keep your posts short, frequent and focus, focus, focus. Random thoughts about life aren’t particularly interesting to people unless you happen to be famous or the person reading the random thoughts is your mom. Oh, and always end each blog with something inspiring that calls people to action (and more importantly makes them leave a comment).

Fine. Great. Agreed.

Now for my quandarifical snag.

Here’s why I blog:

1. I want to be a better writer. Blogging forces me to write and write often, and because people are actually reading my blog (thank you, btw), I want it to be good. Or at least not suck. This takes time but not so much time that my family resents my passion. Therefore, I’ve chosen to blog about once a week.

2. Writing for me is about the creative process. The beauty of starting with one phrase, one image, one sentence — one something that began in a common moment but morphed into a truth that grabbed my heart and shifted my perspective — and then turning it into a picture with the dream of causing that same shift in someone else. Any writer knows that summit is a high like no other. And so, while I always aspire to tighter writing (God knows I need a lot of work) sometimes the creative process takes space that the blogosphere considers epic.

3. Clarity. Mark Twain said, “The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.” No kidding. Blogging is the satisfied finish that always leads to my logical perception. I blog to know what I think.

Oh I have more but I’m starting to get bored, and I’m sure you are too.

This is simply my own coming out party. My admission to intentionally going against the rules, at least for a season, because my gut is pushing me toward a bigger picture that doesn’t fit within their confines. Which leads me back to where I started.

Sometimes you do something just because you love it. You crumple up the  rules, put a match to the instructions and act from your gut because loving what you do is sometimes the best reason of all to actually do something.

Oh, and as for the tenet that says I must end with an inspiring question? I figure if my writing isn’t good enough to evoke a response, I don’t deserve to have you leave one. Consider it a personal challenge for the bigger picture.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some more incessant repeating to do. . .

I write this blog for me, not for you. Because I love to write.