I was tagged by the fabulous litlove at Tales from the Reading Room for this meme, Five Reasons Why I Blog. Thanks, litlove, for making me think about this--it was nice to clarify the reasons, if only for myself.
1. Blogging keeps my mind a little sharper. Notice I don't say that it keeps my mind sharp. That would be an overstatement. Being the mother of three kids, one of which is still a toddler, I sometimes feel like my mind is made of mush, other times like it's a sieve. Blogging makes me think harder about what I read, whether I write a review of a book or not. I feel the need to exercise the brain a little, in hopes of keeping senility at bay, and therefore I blog.
2. Blogging made me part of a community. This community of book bloggers was a welcome surprise to me. Who knew I would find so many friendly, smart, funny, supportive people out there who want to share their thoughts on books, and much more? I didn't know I was going to find this much community and connection when I started blogging, but it's certainly one of the reasons I keep blogging.
3. Blogging focuses my reading. It makes me a better reader. I find that my blogging experience, which I define not just as writing a blog, but also as reading others' blogs and getting others' input on my reading life, has expanded my reading horizons exponentially. I have discovered so many great books on blogs that I never would have found otherwise.
4. The quality of the discussion. This is related to "community", but it's not exactly the same. I find that it's great to have an extended group of people to discuss books with. I have a book group, and though we have wonderful discussions and lots of wine, we only meet once a month. But on the blog, I can talk books any time. And I learn so much from the discussions--I'm constantly amazed at the insights of other book bloggers.
5. Blogging takes some discipline. I don't post every day, but I do feel the pressure to post regularly, and it keeps me on my toes. Blogging keeps me writing, and that's always a good thing.
I'm supposed to tag some of you for this meme, but I'm certain most of you have already been tagged. So if you haven't been tagged yet and are reading this, consider yourself tagged. I recommend this meme--it's been fun!
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6 comments:
I am SO impressed by the way you manage to blog and read and look after three small children! I only have one son, so it's like having an expensive, time-consuming hobby. I cannot imagine how you would ever get anything done with more! So glad that you do, though, as I love your blog.
I definitely like the community aspect of book blogging as well. I didn't list it as one of my five but I did mention it. I'm surprised by how often I talk about bloggers to my wife, saying how someone wrote about this and someone thought this. It's great.
The community aspect is important to me, too. I'm still new enough to blogging that I'm just starting to make some real friends, and I'm still finding all sorts of wonderful book blogs.
litlove--I'm hanging on by my fingernails, but I sort of manage it!
matt--I think it's great, too, and it really was surprising to me, how much I feel connected to my blogging friends.
dewey--I feel the same way. I'm new to it, too, and still developing these great friendships, and still finding so many great book blogs out there. I also love how spread out everyone is, it sounds like a cliche, but I'm so happy to be connecting with people all over the world...
#5 hits home for me. When I first started the blog in Jan 2006, I almost had no expectation of where the blog would go. The more I post, the more pressure I feel to post on a regular basis, about books and reading. So blogging keeps not only my writing but also reading in check.
matt--yep! And I do feel pressure, though I try not to let it get too negative, because blogging is supposed to be fun, and I want to keep it that way!
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