Monday, October 03, 2005

Mutiny on the Blog

Three hurrays for Delightful: He has passed his driving test on the fourth attempt!
It has taken the better part of a year. So pretty soon, I might be driving something around a car park, in first gear, with something-other-than-Dido in the CD player...

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I have a lovely new template to put up, but deep down I am having a blog crisis.

Why do I blog? For me? For you?
I started so that I could express all the thoughts in my mind, things I wanted to share with the friends who were not with me at the moment each thought was born.

Then it evolved into a sort of smorgasbord of whatever came to mind each day.

But still, why do I blog? I enjoy your feedback and your comments. I enjoy the banter and the witticisms and the arguments and the discussions - with you, the people I know and love, and the people I do not know...
And then there are the ones who lurk. Daily visitors who will never speak up but never go away.
Worst of all are the people I know who yet remain silent and it always goes like this:

--I read your blog the other day...
--Oh, DID you...? (miffed at the lack of feedback)

I write partly for myself but partly for you and therefore if I have no feedback I will lose the inspiration.

Although it has made me a better writer, I'm beginning to have the sneaking suspicion that I was more talkative before I started writing. I stored it up in my mind and let loose on the next friend I met. Now I store it up and put it onto the internet for all and sundry to find and I can be lazy and stop sharing across the table.

And so, why do I blog? This is my conversation with you. A conversation is not a monologue.

If I stop storing it up, will I have more to say to those I see every day?

I think so. Look, my muse is already waving at me...Shall I let her go?

15 comments:

MattJ said...

Know what you mean, I know several people who read my blog and it is kind of for them and for me as I am hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away from them. I try to keep it entertaining and full of the kind of things I would say if they were here (ie rambling rubbish with a vast array of insults and cynicism, sprinkled with wildly unlikely theories). I'd prefer it if they all left feedback, but if only a few do that's OK too. If no one ever left feedback, I may lose inspiration but I don't know. Far as conversation and talking to other people, I am not known for my silence ;-)

My advice? If you enjoy it keep doing it, but don't sit there pondering about the value, meaning, purpose of the blog, or paucity thereof (see what I did there? lol!), if it's making you do that maybe you're overthinking?

Incidentally, Paucity is one of my old University friends' favourite words and he would try and slip it into conversation at every available opportunity.

Anonymous said...

I too question the point of blogging if no one gives any feedback. But commenting isn't for everyone. You can feel good knowing that people are checking your blog to see what's up with you, even if they don't have anything to add to your chosen topic of conversation (that's your power and your challenge, to get the ball rolling). If you suspect someone is there, call them out, like a teacher calling on the kid in the back row. "Can anyone give me an answer? BILLY?" Or keep doing what you do so well, commenting on others' blogs and luring over to your site to reciprocate. Or maybe you can drop the need for feedback and blog as a personal expression. Some people don't even allow comments, though I think that's extreme. The truth is, people care more and less than you think, so don't feel obligated to write for anyone but yourself, and don't sweat the feedback.

Anonymous said...

Alright, alright, alright. I know I haven't responded in a while. I don't take your blog for granted though, and it really does make me feel that I still know what is going on in your life. So you have to keep doing for my sake if nothing else.

Porsche! Yay! Yes, that is a Cayman and it is a sentimental car because it is kind of the 21st century decendant of the 356, one of which my dad owned. (That was the car that I was in in that baby picture of me where I was gripping the wheel). I guess I'm about a week late for the prize, though!

Ballet dancing, eh? Good for you!

BTW - You need to make an index of all of your friends. I can't keep up with who's who sometimes!

I have to congratulate you for being the first of us to make it into anime. Cue the techno!

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS, Mr. Delightful!!!

The solution is very simple: just repeat yourself!!

vanessa

Lasto-adri *Blue* said...

i am having this question O as well.. that i nearly stopped writing in my arabic blog *thought it was much much more succesful than my english* but some how i felt deep inside, i no more belong there..
i mean, one i firstly started arabic bloggin was mainly about expressing myself to enhance my arabic as well, but then it turned about to be: i forgot all about my real intentions and looking at the comments, or in other words: the people's feedback.
so i needed to make my own decision and quit till i am back on track.

however O, the point i disocvered lately: do what ever would make you comfortable and satisfied form inside.
you'll write both ways, yet, when will you ever feel that happy blogging?!!!

Anonymous said...

To stay in touch. I started when my brother told me about it and we did it to keep in touch, and now it's been forever. But it is the easiest way to keep in touch. So keep it up!

MattJ said...

I like writing rubbish. I like writing about things I am doing. I like making my friends and, hopefully, others laugh. that's all I need to know, I like feedback and comments as it kind of validates the 'work' but tbh all this 'why do I do this?' 'what is its purpose?' is just nonsense to me. If you enjoy it, keep going, you don't need a reason. If you don't, stop. I find the people who care find a way to stay in touch and those that don't dont't.

michelle said...

I think It is a great way to keep in touch, now Libbs, ever though we talk like every day...u still surprise me...I look forward to reading your blog...

Please don't stop...

M.

Olivia said...

Matt - I know, I just get frustrated sometimes because I do this to stay in touch, and sometimes it feels one-sided. Sometimes I get more comments from people I have never met than from those I know.

Paucity is a fine word, but I more frequently use dearth

JP - You write mainly for yourself; the enjoyment of others is a bonus. I write mainly for others; my enjoyment of it is incidental.

Jason - as if I don't already email you too? Anyway, nice to see you here again. I'm glad you like the Porsche - I had hoped you'd be the first to answer :P

Vanessa - repeat myself?

Blue - I hope you never give up your cute English blog. It makes your readers smile :)

Rebecca - yes ma'am! I use it to keep in touch too.

Matt - you again???

Jia Li - look at how many of our conversations have inspired our blogs entries.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, I'll stick my ha'ppenth worth in. I am one of those guilty of not responding (although I don't wish it to sound as if I'm a member of 'Non-Responders Annonymous' - "Hello, My name is.....and I am a Non-Responder" [que polite applause]). The main reason I fail to do so - apart from insecurity - is that I often view these dispatches some days late, and so any response on my part is rather stale. A perfect example is now (Tues) responding to yesterdays hot topic. I doubt if anyone will read this entry, and therein lies my conundrum. To reply when all others have moved on? Or to sit back, read & catch up when I can, and 'lurk' annonymously in the shadows? For what it is worth though, dear O I liken your blog to a newspaper column. The writer doesn't always expect feedback, but is content to have amused, informed and made one think. Of course this is merely my opinion. But please do continue to 'blog' as I feel it is a means of keeping in touch with you on a regular basis. And that is important. I think perhaps that is enough from me for the present.

Anonymous said...

Never mind paucity and dearth - I CAN DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!

Olivia said...

J - I KNOW, THIS MAKES YOU SO MUCH COOLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olivia said...

Oh sorry, Mr B - Our discussions on these posts can become quite lengthy. No matter when you post a comment, it is emailed to me so I won't miss it, and neither will my more faithful readers who check previous posts.

Olivia said...

Look, it's been a long time since I got 14 comments!

Helmi - welcome back. Thank you for your encouragement...Yes, as you can see, I will keep writing.
These are the things that never last long with me: anger, doubt, sulking.

I've bounced back. I BLOG!

Anonymous said...

What I meant was that: you can't stop blogging 'cause we love to read and to know what you are up to. So just repeat yourself when you are talking to somebody. Even if you already blogged about it just "repeat yourself".
make sense?

Vanessa