All my blogging life (it began two summers ago, and ended about 4 weeks later) I was under the assumption that a blog is whatever you wanted it to be. It's your trip to Oregon (that was mine), daily adventures , or a teen's rant about how crazy their family is. Then came along Will Richardson's thoughts on connective thinking, and I realized, I do very little synthesizing/analyzing of information on my blog. Does that make me any less of a blogger?
In pursuit of meaning to this blogging business I turned to Google and a simple query: great blogs. My first hit is 101 Great Blogs You Should Be Subscribing To and I am ready for action! This is perfect! #7 catches my eye as it promises all that I could ever want. How to make a blog. The heavens open, and at last, someone is speaking my language.
I point and click through articles that intrigue, including ones that promise to make me funny, popular, and wealthy (it's like being in high school clique). More pointing and clicking finds me here, an article that brings together Stephen King's On Writing with the blogging world. Just start it. Do it for joy. Write a lot. King's words strike a chord in my English teacher heart. My blog is for me; it doesn't always have to be about synthesis! It can be about a love of the writing craft!
But then I remember. This blog isn't just about me. It's also about a class I am taking.
So then, I am left wondering, what are the facts about this blogging business? Who set the rules? Who am I to believe? Will Richardson has some thoughts on the depth of responses, but how am I to be sure that when people are "synthesizing" information--their information was correct in the first place? Can I even use blogs as references? What kind of weight do they hold?
THEN I start to wonder about my new fav: How To Make My Blog. Is he reliable? I don't even think I know how to check! He has 564 Facebook friends, but I'm certain that isn't a sure sign of quality. Then I click on Marko Saric's (creator of How To Make My Blog) information page. I'm ready for a slew of degrees from accredited universities. I picture a man, mid-forties, glasses dipped low on his nose, researching away the best blogging techniques.
Nope. I get this.
I shake my head, more confused than ever about what I am to survive in this blogging world. Who can I turn to? Who can I trust? And yes, what makes a great blog? Until these answers are solidified, I suppose I can simply ask myself WWMD (What Would Marko Do)?
Thanks, Becky. This entry really helps to open up the world of blogging.
ReplyDeleteBecky--first, thanks for all the great links. Second, I second your motion. Third, if we go by standards of things I want to read every day to make me smile, laugh, nod my head.... THIS blog post is exactly the kind of blog I want to read. It's not that I don't want to learn the "academic" way of doing it. It's just that, I think that way has it's place (probably for a class assignment I suppose). But the kind of blogging you've been doing, particularly your last two posts, are the kinds of entries I would put in my feed or bookmark so that I could check it to see what great writing, and yes, thinking, I'm going to get to read next. I love creative non-fiction and personal essays, and I think a blog can be about those genres as well. There's room out there for all kinds of genres of blogs--if we all wrote the same kind, it would get boring very quickly. So thanks for the great post, and if it helps you to decide about what kind of blogger you want to be I will let you know that even after this class is over, I would want to keep you in my feed because I think you have a knack for the kinds of blogging I like:)
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