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Monday, November 12, 2012

So You've Started a Blog...

After a recent post on Facebook, several friends said to me, “You should start a blog.”  At first I didn’t know whether to take it as an insult.  I mean, blogging seems so 90s.   I have actually used those exact words to subtly insult someone.  Recently.  Why don't you go start a blog.  It’s kind of the modern version of “Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares.”

Who starts a blog, after all?  I mean, when you’ve got a world of FB friends ready to read (or at least scroll past) your most random and pointless thoughts as it is, why blog?  With a few strokes of the key pad, your precious gem of writing filled with logic and humor is right there posted for the world to see.  Just below the “Cat jumped on the counter today” post by that person from high school you don’t remember.   You know, they really should consider segmenting Facebook into cat lovers and, well, the rest of humanity.   

Maybe my random thoughts are getting lost in a FB world of other random thoughts - thoughts that are even more pointless and inane than mine.  Dang it.   Maybe my friends who told me to start a blog weren’t telling me to shut the hell up.  Maybe they liked what I wrote.  And not push a “Like” button liked, but actually liked.  And maybe they are right.  Maybe I should start a blog.  

I mean, in the age of Facebook and Twitter, blogging is definitely old school.   And I am nothing if not old school.  Right?  Just the other day I was explaining to my 9-year-old daughter that Run DMC and Aerosmith were actually the first ones to do the rap-in-a-rock song thing that is ubiquitous these days.   And as she stared blankly at me, worried that someone might see us talking, I thought: Man, I am old school.

There is something almost endearing about starting a blog - and liberating for the writer.  My posts would no longer be judged by the number of “likes” I can get.  They’ll just be out there, being read by nobody and not judged at all.  It could work.      

And that’s how I decided to start this blog.

My first confession is that I actually tried starting a blog before – a dad blog on parenting.   After about four posts, I decided I didn’t know what the heck I was talking about.  I mean, my kids are loud and never listen to me.  Why should anyone else.  

With this blog, I am not going to limit myself to parenting drivel.  Any drivel will do.  Politics, parenting, travel, food, fishing, house work, real work.  What the heck.  There are no limits.  It’s exactly the opposite of what I’d advise someone starting a blog to do.  I’d tell them, be focused.  Have a point of view.  Specialize.  Maybe start a blog about home organic gardening for single moms.   Or write reviews of good places at the mall for a husband to sit while his wife shops.  That’s what I’d tell them.  But me.  I’m a generalist.  So I am going to ignore that sage advice and just write about anything I want.

Ah, it is liberating.  I hope people like it.  And I mean really like it, not hit a “Like” button like it. We’ll see.      

(Note: everything below this post was pulled from Facebook, or from the now defunct parenting blog I tried and failed at months ago.  Everything from now on will be original to this blog only).

Here's other articles you may enjoy: Vegas, Baby!, Dog Responds to "Mystery Poo" False Accusations, and Tip of the Hat to Single Parents, and Thanks to My Backup,

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Facebook is so hard to navigate these days, I think blogs will make a comeback. (Also, Guilty. I post pictures of cats on my Facebook wall. Maybe I should start take a quarter and create a cat blog for those who care.)

Cort Ruddy said...

Everything old is new again -- including blogging. I walk by the Gap and see all the plaid shirts and think, I owned most of those in College in 1990s. Thanks for reading.