Change Your Blog, Change Your Life

Thank you Penelope Trunk for the brutal honesty of your post:  Reality Check:  You're not going to make money from your blog.  Not so much because I actually thought I would make money from my blog, but because I thought I was sick of blogging until you helped me realize I blog for totally selfish reasons, none of which have anything to do with money.

A couple of weeks ago, I was seriously considering abandoning my blog, like so many others Grace had been wondering about.  I retired over a year ago.  I wrote about the adjustment:  I'm adjusted, it's fun, I'm happy.  Why would I want to write about it anymore?

My writing teacher keeps encouraging each of us to figure out what is "begging to be written."  She wants us to listen to what is compelling us to write, and then write about that.  What I yearn to write about isn't retirement, it's about losing my mom when I was 16.  So I've been thinking I should stop writing about retirement and start writing about my mom.

I had it in my mind that this could be a book.  I would write a book about losing my mom to cancer when I was 16.  So I went to a seminar on writing, publishing, and marketing a book.  And now I know with certainty I do not want to publish a book. (Thank you again Penelope for already telling me that writing a book is a stupid idea.) I need to write about my mom, but publishing it is way more trouble than it's worth, and totally unnecessary as far as fulfilling the need to write it.

So I did a lot of writing just for myself, and I wrote about how I didn't want to keep the blog anymore, and then I thought of a whole bunch of things I wanted to blog about.

A lot of bloggers say that they blog to help other people.  While I would love it if my blog actually helped anyone, that doesn't really have anything to do with why I blog.  I blog because I love to write.  And as far as helping people, my readers help me way more than I help them.  The comments I receive give me support, great ideas, and interesting questions that make me think.  So I get more out of blogging than I give.

Which begs the question, if I'm not going to make any money at the blog, and the reason I do it is to write and to read comments, why in the heck do I have these stupid ads on my site?  They clutter up the page and in a year and a half of blogging, I've made something like sixty bucks.

So instead of quitting blogging, I took off all the ads to remind myself that I'm blogging for selfish reasons, none of which include financial gain.

Related Posts:

Isn't Blogging Writing?

Blogging at the Library

That's the Way I See it, Maybe You See it Differently

Comments

[dogatemyfinances]

I totally agree with this. It's why I never even tried to take ads. I also really wanted to protect my anonymity.

[Analise]

I'm glad you didn't abandon your blog. You are a good writer and I personally, connect with much that you write about, although I don't often comment. But I'm with you... the idea of making money with one's blog is not realistic... very few bloggers reach that level. But that's OK. To me, blogging is a tool for reflection and personal growth. And, to me, this is far more important than money at this point in my life.

[Judy]

I, too, have to remind myself why I blog. It's an exercise for me and for connecting with others.
Syd, you might appreciate a friend's blog who has been writing about life post Mom.
http://figmentofcogitation.wordpress.com/

[Retired Syd]

Judy: Thanks for the link to your friend's blog, I'm really enjoying her writing.