When I first discovered blogging, five or six years ago, I followed a small selection of blogs which had something in common, namely great writing. Some of these blogs were written by writers, others by bloggers who had a gift for writing, yet no ambitions in that direction.
The blogs provided snapshots of the bloggers' lives, both past and present. Life, death, children, broken and new relationships were covered and sometimes I would smile as I read, on other occasions I would cry. Those blogs led me to a continuing interest in the therapeutic use of journalling and creative writing.
Many of those early blogs now lie abandoned or are seldom written, though I still have links in my blogroll and on Google Reader, keen to catch any occasional post. Blogging seems to have moved in a new direction, away from the personal and over to the promotional, but I'm afraid I soon lose interest in blogs which do little other than promote freebies the blogger has received. I think we've all become rightly wary about how much personal information we disclose on our blogs and as a result something very creative is in danger of being lost.
But there are still many fascinating and beautifully written blogs out there and in the last few weeks I have found myself crying at blogs again. I have read blog posts which were truly heartfelt, yet so personal that I feel it is not right to link to them here. At a time when my own blog has been feeling very stale, I've been reminded why I first started blogging. It feels good.
4 comments:
Yes, I remember the magic Cathy. I can't identify why I feel differently and am writing differently but I know I'm not interested in those promoting heavily. I like blogs that tell me about people's lives...
Jenny, your blog is one that I always read, I don't feel it's lost its magic. I love blogs that show me another part of the world, in photos as well as words. But I do think that blogging generally seems to have lost something along the way.
I think you're right, Cathy. Some blogs are getting less personal, more promotional and less interesting. But I think there are probably new blogs that could replace those in our lists if we put in the effort to look for them.
I often wonder whether I say too much in some of my posts. It's a tough decision to make.
It's finding that balance, isn't it Miriam? I certainly write less personal stuff now after I once had a very unpleasant attack in my blog comments from someone who remained anonymous but clearly knew me from elsewhere on the web.
And yes, you're right, there must be many more new personal blogs to discover, but I guess it's finding the time to search them out. Most of the new blogs I discover now are writing related, very useful but not quite the same.
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