I read a "Farewell Post" from a fellow blogger this morning, and it totally took me by surprise. But it wasn't because she quit blogging, it was the new knowledge that anyone actually does that.
Really? I'm still a relatively new blogger, so there are a million things I don't know about it, but it never occurred to me that some writers might just stop doing it one day.
I read blogs like I watch TV shows - not often, but I definitely have my favorites. I read this particular blogger's every post with great pleasure and admiration; while she didn't write daily, or even weekly, she wrote very well and entertained me immensely with her outrageous stories about being a native Scot living as a closet lesbian in Egypt (and I'm not even making that up). And then, all of sudden, she says she's got other stuff to do.
Hello??? Over here - I'm reading you! (Me, and 600+ followers; what in the world would prompt a person to quit writing when that many people are actually reading you???)
This feels a bit like some random network executives deciding - without my input - that Benjamin Bratt didn't need to be flexing his tattooed guns on my big screen once a week, pretending to be a recovering drug addict. Um, yeah he does.
When I started writing this, if you had asked me how long I would do it, I would have thought that a weird question. Well, until I die, I guess. Or I lose my hands in a farming accident. Which isn't likely, but it could happen. A lot of the time, I don't have much to say. I don't write as often as some of the other bloggers I love and I don't have a lot of followers. But I come here to write because I'm practicing. I'm practicing not only my writing, but my thinking, my decision making skills, my life. If I quit writing my blog, it would be the first time in my life I voluntarily chose to shut up.
So, maybe too bad for you, this is not a Farewell Post. I will miss my cyber friend, Kerry, and her crazy life, but I guess now I know: I better not get too attached to anyone here.
Look how bitter I still am about that Benjamin Bratt thing, and that was two years ago.
That was a funny post. But you're right; you do get fond of reading certain blogs and you miss them when they leave. I have had three of my regulars stop posting, and I'm bummed about it. I miss their wit, their stories, the peek into their lives! I hope that means that if something should happen to me and I couldn't blog anymore, that I might be missed, too.
ReplyDeleteEva, bite your tongue! I read your post from the conference today and you better not be going anywhere! We'd all track you down!
ReplyDeleteI can identify!! I wondered, about a year into blogging when all the bloggers I knew were "hopeful" writers, what happens when the dream doesn't come true? You know some of those people will never get published... will probably never even finish their first book. So what happens if they give up? Do they stop blogging? And then where does that leave me??
ReplyDeleteI figure the end is inevitable for me. The fact that I've stuck with it more than two years is pretty good for my limited attention span. Yet, I keep at it. And for some reason, people keep reading.