Re-connecting
Look what happens! I wrote about "Disconnected" for Sunday Scribblings and where do I go for the next month-and-a-bit-more? Into somewhere not connected to my blog for sure. I've still read blogs from time to time, and even managed to leave the occasional comment, but am still not properly back on-line. Now that my holidays from work have started, time to get neglected tasks (like having my computer looked) at seen to.
Well... computer problems were only part of the reason for my disappearance. It's been a difficult month, with traumas minor and major, and my attention and energy were elsewhere.
But, as to blogging... I see many bloggers reach a point where there's a dilemma. Questions are asked like "What am I doing here?" This blog has changed since I started it. I've "gone underground" in certain ways. My focus in my life has changed, and there's more that I keep outside of the blog. But there was a time when I shared more of my poetry and the poets that I like, more of myself, and maybe I can return to that a bit.
I don't want to delete the blog, or to stop it. But it can't sit there with nothing happening for months at a time (Why not? I'm only a very occasional blogger on my SoulCollage blog, after all). If there's still anyone out there, what do you think is important about keeping a blog?
This is just a meandering musing, really. I suspect that this will pick up again at a point where something catches my interest and I start to post about it again. A bit like calling an old friend after a gap, and saying "Well... where have you been? What have you been up to? Tell me all..."
Labels: blogging
posted by GreenishLady @ 8:50 am
16 Comments:
:) Still here.
And I have to say - it depends on the blog. Even for a "personal" blog, a journal of sorts, it depends on how intensive you want it to be and what you want to share. Some people post once a day (or more often), rain, shine, or complete lack of inspiration. Some people post once a month, or less frequently. To me, a personal blog should be what the owner wants to share, as often as they choose to do so. Which makes it very hard to define.
Topic blogs are a whole other story. Those either update when the owner has something to say on the topic, or on a set or semi-set schedule if the topic is one of the infinitely mineable ones (Ronni Bennett's Time Goes By comes to mind). But that's a different beast.
I can't believe I've managed to blog most everyday for four years. I continually think about the medium and ask myself those questions. Mostly I wonder 'how long can this go on? how big can a blog get? what ultimately becomes of it?' Because mine is a time capsule record that I want to keep but being online I really don't have much control of it and can't help thinking the plug will one day be pulled. Is a blog like a blob, keeps growing till it takes over your world?
I enjoyed looking at your soul collages. What a wonderful dream language.
PS My blog does still serve me like a soul collage. I put us what speaks to me and it then creates movement.
I'm still here too. And I'm glad to see you've popped in for a post.
I ask myself the same questions about my blog: what am I doing here, how has it changed and why.
I'm still here too, Imelda! Maybe if you think of it as a tool to serve you rather than others. I think that we are here because we care about you and are interested in what you have to say whenever you want to say it.
My blog serves me so well as an outlet, like a journal, of when I want to express something to those I think of as "my community" since in my regular life I do not have that. I feel like I get so much more from my blog than I give to it because of all of the wonderful comments I get and the connections I make. I also like reading the blogs of the people I am closer to and subscribe to their blogs so that I can see when they post something new, even if it's months!
Glad to see you here!
xo, blogging blessings, O
While I have only been blogging now for a year, I would say that keeping a blog has been a great opportunity to connect with others. I enjoy creating posts. The great thing about blogging is that it can be anything you want it to be. I love going back to my posts from last year. My writing, my artwork, and my style has all evolved.
Oh, I hope you don't go away...I think it is like not changing your number, so you keep the connection. You can always post whatever.
Mine has changed as well. Not on purpose, just...because, I guess. But then sometimes I just want to be there, and "see" my friends.
Don't go away.
:) oxox
I've been going through this for last six months or so...going "underground" (the perfect word), disconnected...not in a place where I felt like sharing, but not wanting to stop the blog altogether...and for me, feeling guilty about the whole thing, above all.
I think we just need to let the blog be what it is and trust that those to whom we are connected will understand and keep coming back. If we let it be a chain, then there's no joy or depth to it--and readers know that. As a reader, I much prefer the sporadic entry that touches my soul to the daily written trifles that seem empty of emotion.
It's been a while since you've posted, but I've kept coming back. And I know I'm not the only one...
Hmm. I started blogging because it seemed like a good way to stay connected with friends and family (we'd just moved to a new city, again, and we have no family here). It also seemed like a good outlet for showing my creative work, and for getting back into writing, if only in a small way.
It seems only natural that blogs change over time. I'm less interested in showing family stuff these days, and more interested in focusing on creativity, the artist's journey, etc. I find it hard to strike a balance so that I am honest, but not pompous, and not telling anyone else what they should do or believe. I know I can be very painfully earnest. I'm still in search of a voice/point of view that I feel comfortable with. And maybe I shouldn't ever get entirely comfortable . . . ? I think it's more interesting when I'm more honest, less glib. The rough edges show. My readers wince, and some don't come back because I don't always show pretty pictures, and I'm not always "victorious." But that's more authentic for me, so I'm sticking with it. (Until things change again!)
From your comment on my blog I see that you're coming up on the year anniversary of your mom's passing. Such a significant loss is life altering -- everything changes -- we even become less passionate about things we were once very passionate about. It might have something to do with feeling so disconnected. When my mother passed I couldn't understand (truthfully) how the world could continue to spin without her and why people were acting as if nothing happened. You're world has changed and it's changed you.
The best thing about blogging is now and then you happen upon people that truly touch you, speak to your soul and with whom you feel a special kinship. For me, you are one of those people.
You are my very first friend from Ireland which has always held a special fascination for me. I found you by accident and have been drawn back countless times. You are a special lady. You are so right -- we are sisters.
The most important thing, I think, is that you do what you need to do for you. Take the time to do for you. Do what feeds your soul. It's going to take time to feel comfortable in your own skin again -- to get used to "the new normal". Rest assured that there will be those of us who have bookmarked that place in our hearts for you and will be awaiting your return. However much you're willing to share, we will savor. Absence doesn't always mean being disconnected.
I'm here for you and you can always reach me via the contact form on my blog. I'm never too busy or too stressed to respond to "my sister". *hugs*
Although i am a new blog reader of yours, i will be here whenever you feel re-connected Hun!! I love poetry and crafts and even Ireland is very interesting.
Bright Blessings from America
I write my blog to be read by other people and I really enjoy their comments. Even if no-one read it though, it would still be worth doing as it acts as a diary of all the places I've been, walks I've taken, family events - my posts bring things back to me more clearly than just memory or photographs because I'm writing as things happen. I don't blog daily (my life isn't that exciting!) but usually manage a couple each week. I suppose the thing is that I blog because I enjoy it.
Imelda, you and I started blogging about the same time (early 2006), I think, and we've both gone through lots of changes in those three years. I've always enjoyed reading your pespectives on life and the world, your family relationships, and your work. I think blogging gives us a unique opportunity to share ideas and creativity with others, an opportunity we might not otherwise have.
I started my blog as an outlet and encouragement for my writing, and it has more than fulfilled that purpose. My mission (if you want to call it that) was to reflect on "life in general and my own in particular," for I think each one of us brings a special perspective to life's events which can be meaningful to others.
I had no idea I would find so many creative souls out there in the virtual world, and that has been a huge blessing. I certainly count you among the many special acquaintances I've made on this journey.
I hope you will continue to share your insights and ideas here at Greenish Lady :)
Just echoing everyone who says they're glad to see your posts... whenever they appear.
For me, my blog, once my private space, has become a public community. It's a community I love, but I'm having to find other ways to create a private space for myself; otherwise it all becomes unsustainable. Unfortunately, it all seems to mean that I'm posting less and less...
This is a question that's been on my mind as well and I appreciate your sending it 'out there' so I can read what other bloggers feel as well. Some days I feel more than redundant and others I love to be carried along by a topic that generally is mine alone. Sometimes I'm sad when I get only 1response and then I remember my real reason for blogging-for my own thoughts and impressions.
Anyway, as I write I'm glad to see you're still blogging :O)
Lots of great input here, Imelda! I wonder about this too, but my blog is currently the only form of journal I'm keeping so I continue on...even if my posting is eratic. Having posted this and read the comments, how are you feeling now?
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