I have been tagged by fellow 9rules member Edward Mills, who said some wonderfully flattering and embarrassing things about this site and then tagged me with a question as to why it is I blog.
So I have been officially tagged, and will answer. I don’t usually do so, but this meme strikes me as somehow… relevant.
There are a lot of reasons to blog. Probably more not to. But these are five of the reasons I blog:
1: Catharsis
It is cathartic. I release a lot of stress into the pixels that make up this site. A lot of emotion goes into the stories I write, even if the stories aren’t well constructed or packaged nicely. Life is full of untied ends, and my writing often accidentally imitates this. But it is the release or stress into the written word that draws me to post again and again on this site. It was originally created as a sort of safety valve for creativity, and it has proven to be so over and over.
2: Expression
Writing is a particularly expressive form of communication. When talking recently to my girlfriend, a gifted writer, I was comparing the art of writing to creating visual art or music. She pointed out that I tend to write the same way I draw – I paint pictures on the canvas of people’s minds. Adverbs, nouns and adjectives are my pigments, grammar and punctuation my oft overused and abused brushes. It is a unique way for me to express the thoughts and ideas and emotions inside.
3: Ego
Let us not forget the other side of expression. Ego comes into play for most bloggers. I admit it, I write on this site for a lot of reasons, but I do enjoy the attention. I love comments from readers. It makes me feel like I am touching people with my thoughts and feelings. Sometimes its hard, but every once in a while I’ll write something I am so proud of that it most certainly inflates my ego.
4: Development, professional and personal (and ego)
Obviously this site has had an impact on my professional life. It is a fairly uniquely designed blog in my opinion, and because I am a graphic designer, it has earned me some accolades among peers. It’s also earned some deserved criticism.
I’ve been able to post a lot of my thoughts about the design industry, about the practice of design, and about the future of design as I see it, and this has been good for business.
It’s also been a source of personal development. I wrote before this site, but I think my writing has really blossomed in this environment. Ego creeps in again.
5: Because
And finally, I blog because. Because it’s there. Because everyone has a book inside them. Because they have something to say.
Like some literary mountain, this blog stands on the horizon of my mind, something to climb, to be at peace with. To know. It’s got nothing to do with writing books, though I have plans to do so, it’s because it’s there. Because I can.
Because I have something to say. You may not like what I have to say, but I am not writing because you may or may not like it. I am writing because I have something to say, and I want to say it.
So there you have it.
And now, by the rules of this game, I am supposed to tag five someones.
So I tag…
Jorge, Jules, Hoi-en, Jon and Paps.
What are five reasons you guys blog?
Holy moley.
Ok.
Thinking now :-)