Why Bloggers Blog…. Part I

This is part one of a six-part series of posts exploring some of the reasons we bloggers blog. I'll try not to make it as obvious as serving chicken at a poultry convention, and I am especially eager to gather input from fellow bloggers on each section... so humor me.

Many of you have been blogging since the beginning of the revolution in 2002. As that article link suggests, at first most of the attention was given to the grass-roots journalism that was giving the mainstream media fits. Patterns of Ink (POI) began in an election year (2004), and many of my posts were editorial essays, but eventually blogging revived something from my past… from before blogging… before the internet… before computers. How can that be? I suspect this is true of many of the bloggers who read here.

We have more than a few things in common. We're all pretty observant, good thinkers, and friendly. I don't think that is a coincidence. Blogging is way to observe, reflect, wonder, write, share stories, form opinions, stretch views, and interact with others.

Part One's topic, however, is a common skill we've all developed through the years. When I say what it is, some of you will gasp, “That’s not me. I don’t fit that bill.” This post is about the fact that
we are all writers.

You may hasten to qualify the term, "I'm a writer in the making." Here's the good news: All writers are in the making.

I have enjoyed but struggled with writing my entire life. I once wrote a note to my teacher and closed with, “Have a grate day!” Cute, huh? Well, maybe if I hadn't been in 8th grade. Back then, I’d write a story like “The Mystery of the Cigar Store Indian” and Miss Statelier would give me an “A” for effort, characters, imagination, etc. but she'd circle dozens of misspelled words and write “Look it up” with a smiley face in the margin. I tried that. The words weren't there!

To this day, I'm a spotty speller. I talk to spellcheck like an old friend as I type. He's drawing his red line under my words this very minute. Ironically, he's telling me I've misspelled spellcheck. Evidently, Spell is his first name and Check is his middle name. Oh, well. I'm leaving it. Get over it, Pal!

The fact that midway through college, I changed my major and became a teacher would have shocked every English teacher who prodded me along the K-12 "paper trail." The fact that writing hadn't come naturally to me, helped me as a teacher for twenty years.

Writing is not easy for most people. I still struggle with it, and yet I enjoy it more and more the older I get—and the more I write. Blogging has brought the fun back to my personal writing.

If you're still not sure whether you're a blogger who writes or a writer who blogs (or an avid reader who can write well), consider the following:

If you've ever backspaced as you type to rephrase something a little better, you’re a writer.
If you’ve ever wondered if the stories of your life might actually be of interest to this world, you’re a writer.
If you’ve ever woken up to scribble down an idea for fear you’d lose it in a dream, you’re a writer.
If you look forward to the chance to sit down and flesh out your scribbled thoughts, you’re a writer.
If you’ve ever felt that what you've written was silly or hollow or overworked and that no one would ever read it, you’re a writer.
If you know that there are thousands of much better writers than you in this world, but you write anyway, you’re a writer.
If you’ve ever been motivated by the question “If I don’t write this, who will?”… you’re a writer.
If you sometimes find solace in the company of words (your own and other's) and know they have character and voice and meaning all their own, you're a writer.
If you choose words wisely knowing that you must live them and that some may live on when you are gone, you are a writer.
If you understand that clicking the "create" tab on your blog dashboard is a hint that the creativity of writing (and all the arts) is part of being "created in the image of God," you're a writer.
If you can put writing aside when none of the above feels true and know that you'll return, you’re a writer.

Oh, here's one more. You might just be a writer if you can't wait to write a post about the house full of your daughter's college friends who came for Sunday dinner and as you were getting ready to serve ice cream and brownies, a cell phone began ringing—in your freezer! Bewildered, you pulled out the ringing, vibrating popsicle only to have it nabbed from a tall blonde who says, "Oh, thanks. That's mine. I dropped it in the sink a couple weeks ago and now the screen only works when its frozen. I have three minutes to read this text message before it thaws and then I'll put it back in your freezer if that's okay?"
I can't wait to write about that. I guess I just did.

I’ve read your blogs (or will if we haven't met yet) and you are all fine writers with something to say. Most of us deliberately avoid writing about earth-shaking things. After all, there are books and books about things that have shaken the earth.

I tend to write about simple things noteworthy only in that they often go unnoticed. If I don’t write about them or if you don’t read them, it will probably make no more difference than where you pile the leaves to bag and cart away. Sometimes, though, it's good to remember the commonness of things we have in common. Everyone has something to say. Everyone has a voice.

Like the squeak of a rocker on the porch, even things that don’t much matter still belong.

Bloggers blog to write!
And that is just one of the reasons we bloggers blog.
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