Blogging by Stan Beatty

I spent all summer blogging and  I thought some of you might find my experience interesting.

My blogging started when I created this site for everyone in the class to use when and if you wanted to.  My thoughts  were to have a site that we could all use to write about our experiences and practice our writing.

The first thing I noticed was that every time a new post is put up it pushes the old post off  the main page.  I thought that every time I post I will push someone else off the main page. Since I was posting so often I thought other class members might  think of me as a hog. So I decided to create a personal blog that I could post on and others could read if they were interested.  I would post on both blogs. I named my personal blog  "Old Grizz and Me".

The new blog would give me the opportunity to write and post as much as I wanted.  I could do both and not be a hog on one.  I began writing short stories and posting them but I was not getting any readers. I did not know how to get noticed by other bloggers,  In other words, no one was "beating a pathway to my door". One day I was reading Connie's profile and noticed she read a blog site called  "Sunday Scribblings", so I decided to check it out. This site offers a weekly prompt and anyone can write about the prompt.  It is similar to what we do in our class.  When you post your interpretation of the prompt on your blog you link it back to the Sunday Scribblings site and other bloggers can see that you have written a response to the prompt.  They can read what you have written and comment on it.

When I first started posting on the blog no one was reading what I wrote or at least they were not commenting on what I had to say.  My "story" was either really bad writing or there was something going on that I did not understand.  I began reading other bloggers that had contributed and discovered that they were getting comments.  Some had just a few comments and some had a lot of comments.  When  I read what they wrote I could see that the bloggers with a lot of comments were not any better or any worse writers than I am. However, I did notice that the bloggers with the most comments were also the bloggers that commented the most.

I began to emulate Amy.  I left positive comments on what they had written.  The response was immediate.  I read and commented on their writing so they read and commented on mine.  I discovered blogging is a "push me-pull you" world.  At least it is for those of us that are not famous.  "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" should be the national motto of bloggers.  The bloggers that get the most responses are those that spend the most time reading and commenting on what other bloggers are writing.

Is there anything wrong with this system?  I don't think so.  If you want good friends in your everyday life you have to give of yourself.  No one wants friends that just take and never give.  I have discovered some very nice bloggers from England to Australia and enjoy what they have to say and enjoy their comments on what I have to say.   It has been a very positive experience for me.  In fact, I now have three blogs besides being a member of  "Tuesday with Amy"

If there is a down side to blogging it would be the time it takes away from my original goal of writing my life story and my secondary goal of writing short stories.  However I would say the experience of blogging has been positive and helped improve my writing skills.