Let’s Talk Bookish: Why Do You Blog?

Let’s Talk Bookish is run by Dani@Literary Lion and Rukky@Eternity Books. It asks a different question each week.

This week’s question is: Why do you blog? (Rukky)

Since it’s been a while since I last wrote on this topic, I thought it would be the perfect time to take part in Let’s Talk Bookish since I adore reading these posts every Friday. And especially since I’ve found myself wondering about this very thing a lot lately.

Originally, I started blogging by accident in 2010. I had been looking for an online place to store my writing and stumbled onto WordPress. I had no idea what a blog was, so blithely published a few pieces, thinking that’s how I saved it, only to come back and discover something called notifications and something else called views. I panicked, took everything down, and left the blog for a few years.

Almost exactly 3 years later, I’d figured out what blogging was and decided to try my hand with a writing blog. I wrote to share my writings and to connect with other writers. It was fun and there’s still one lovely writer still around, Jennifer Zeiger, all these years later (she’ll be a guest here on Monday – see below for more information). But I stopped in 2015 because I had a little baby and no time to blog.

At the end of 2017, I discovered I was, more or less, a dedicated stay at home mom for an indefinite amount of time to two kids. I needed something for myself, so dusted off my blog.

It would be easy to say I blog for myself. It would also be easy to say I blog to share my love of books. Or baking. Or that I want to get back to my roots as a writer. Or that I’m hoping it’ll be my career one day. All of it is true, but I’ve realized it’s a lot more than that.

I blog because I’m an introvert and having the option of communicating with people without being face-to-face with them, without having to deal with small talk, without having to respond to every little thing they say, without having to talk idly about any kind of topic that crops up in a conversation, is the one I’ll always pick.

I abhor small talk. I can’t stand having to react to everything someone tells me. I cannot for the life of me say anything coherent if there isn’t a specific topic or point to a conversation, and most people don’t appreciate my bland stare as I wait for something noteworthy to use my voice on.

And that’s where blogging comes in. When I want to chat, I write about the things I want to talk about. When I want to share, I write what I want to share. When I read blogs, I love, love, love the option of not having to respond to every post I read. I can have my private reaction and not feel pressured to respond. I can like the post and then move on and my brain cells thank me for not overtaxing them. And it’s worked out marvelously! I’ve built so many wonderful friendships with so many people I may never meet, but it makes my world feel a little less empty and fills the tiny vase I have for human connection. Without all the awkward small talk! I mean, blogging really is amazing for introverts.

So, yeah, that’s why I blog. To have my own voice and to chat with others more on my own terms. Because being an introvert forced to live in a world for extroverts is just too exhausting, so this blog has become my happy place.

Why do you blog? What do you love about it?

Be sure to stop by on Monday when I host The Lily Cafe’s first author reading! I’m so excited to have Jennifer, who I mentioned above, here to read from her YA Fantasy novel Quaking Soul.

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