You Wanna Write a What? On a What?

My blog is two this month. Means two years ago, I was a blogging virgin, and I believed a post was still a post. In fact, the first time I heard the word blog was a little baffling. I was at a writing workshop in a small town rural library. A published Saskatchewan author was mentoring writers from all over Southern Saskatchewan.

Let me set the scene...

We were sitting around the table. The author in charge asked us to introduce ourselves, the genres we write, and what we hoped to get from this weekend. Now this was a long time ago, back before I had Internet at my house and way back before I left comments on posts.

We were quickly looking to the woman to my left. She was dressed in burgundy with some accentuating bling that showed she actually put effort into her wardrobe. (Unlike me, rubbing at a sad stain of baby vomit on the nicest blouse I owned. Eurk.) She smelt nice too. Weird what I remember. But I was used to smelling baby puke, I guess.

Anyway, she says something like this; "I blog."

Yup. She said I blog.

Up until this point, I had almost understood everyone at the table, (the sci-fi writers were speaking their own language and even though I love sci-fi, I didn't know which planet they were from) but I blog clearly had them stumped, too.

Just an aside, blog actually comes from the words: WEB LOG. Eventually it turned into one word, weblog, and that looks so cool people started saying we blog and so we became bloggers. See how we work, just creating words?
Well I could see the dictionaries looming on the shelf. But! I figured it would be rude to ditch the group to look up this word.

So I waited, figuring she'd dish out more clues. Eventually, I could ask her in private. Well, the author in charge did not miss a beat. If she didn't know what blogging was she did not let on. She said, "Tell us about it." There that would help. Well, I'm going to paraphrase here because I don't remember her exact answer but it went something like this, "Well, I was thinking about making my own blog."

So now it was a noun? Something she could make and had to attend a writing workshop to help her with. These clues were getting me nothing.


Oh and then she said something that truly stumped me. "I enjoy leaving comments on posts and would like to sound professional."

Comments on posts? Holy Writing Wizards. I mean... what the heck was she talking about? I suspected that maybe, just maybe, she was creating words. Us writers, we do that.

Break time. I beelined for the dictionaries. Blog. Was it a type of writing like a book or poem? How was she leaving comments on posts? 

Well, the dictionaries were by the author's book display and when she saw me rush toward them... well...  I never got a chance to look it up until I got home and well, a post was still a post, and blog- be it the verb or the noun- wasn't in my ancient dictionary. Wow. Time to update my dictionary.

I had talked to her about it and got the impression it involved the Internet. Which was like a sea of information I couldn't access so I left it at that for a few years.

Getting dial-up Internet meant I could contribute to writing groups. I hit it off with a few writers and they referred me to their blog. Now at first I ignored such invites cause it felt a lot like they were giving me directions to their private posts. Why was everyone so trusting with these posts?

Then on an agent website I see the words, "MUST HAVE A WRITING PLATFORM INCLUDING A BLOG". huh. It was requested by an agent? So I went to check out these links I had. I was sucked in instantly. Not because some agent wanted it, I mean really who would do that? It was because wow...

They basically had their own mini website on which they could self-publish their thoughts (each entry being a blog post) and ideas whenever the heck they felt like it. Others could comment, like a game. OMGosh! Why the heck hadn't anyone told me such a thing was possible???????? Oh yeah, they had, I was just stuck in a field somewhere looking at a post I couldn't comment on.

And so two years later, here I am. On a blog. Waiting for someone to comment on my post.

My fav part about blogging is chatting around our posts about writing.

The worst thing is that I don't have enough time to post weekly. I don't want to give it up and so I fit it in when I can. I visit new blogs, familiar blogs, and posts that intrigue me. I wish I could read every post. (Okay I might be coming off an addict. Hi. I'm Tanya and I have a bloggling problem, going on two years now. I went to Google about it and was referred to several posts I could comment on.)

Sadly, I watched some bloggers I adored vanish this past year. Just gone. Some posts are still there, buried under a sea of grass and weeds.

But!! I laughed a lot, too. Blogging is fun, it's unique, and it's very in-the-moment real.

I blog.

Best words ever.

Happy Blogoversary!!! (Look at me- just creating words.)

Why do you blog?

16 comments:

E. Arroyo said...

How Funny! Happy Anniversary. Please, don't give it up. It's posts like these that keep me reading! =)

Unknown said...

The big 2! :-D Congrats Tanya! Your post definitely sounds familiar. I just kind of started blogging because it was what writers were supposed to do. (I wonder what we'd have fallen into now?)

Blogging has definitely changed over the last 2-3 years. Many agents are abandoning it, and most say to only do it you're good at it. (Whatever that means...)

When I first started, I didn't really enjoy it. It was just a task or skill that needed doing. Now, like you, I actually like it. It's fun in it's own way, even though I'm not any closer to knowing what I'm doing. lol

I love my long-time blog friends (like you), and truly look forward to reading about their exploits. So here's to many more years of blogging for us both. :-)

I'm glad you stuck around!

Victoria Lindstrom said...

Congrats on two years, Tanya! (We both started blogging at almost the same time - my two-year mark is this weekend) I love this post...so funny, as usual. Holy writing wizards, I may have to steal that!

writing and living by Richard P Hughes said...

To me, blogging is a kind of interactive journal. I just jot down random stuff and see if anyone out there reads it. To my surprise, some people do. At least, I think they're people. I'm really not sure.

Suzi said...

Happy Blogoversary! I do it cause it's fun. Maybe didn't start for that reason, but it's why I keep going. And I've met so many incredible people. So glad I got into blogging.

Tanya Reimer said...

Thanks E. Arroyo!

Thanks for your kind words EJ just what I needed to hear this week! I don't think it matter that we're clueless when everyone else is too. We fit in just fine.

Oh yay Victoria! And to think we only met this year!

hahahahahahaha. omgosh, Richard I am rolling on the floor in stitches! You're so right, they might not be people. I sure can't keep up to most of them. Super heroes, writing wizards... hard to say.

Hey Suzi, Fun is the key word, ain't it? Yup. I kept telling myself the moment it wasn't fun I was shutting it down. I'm still here, so that must mean something.

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

I so related to this post! The first time I ever heard the word was at a SCBWI conference about 4 years ago, when a presenter advised us attendees to blog and referred us to free blog sites that would walk us through the process of setting one up.

When I started my blog via Blogger, I was enchanted. Like Richard, it feels like an interactive journal. And while I keep thinking I SHOULD focus on one thing to blog about -- writing, for instance), I often blog about other things, too. But I love how I've met people with common writing interests via blogging, and this has led to FB friends as well. There are times I can't keep up with it (like recently, when our dog had an odd kind of seizure), but when I can, I love to blog, and I love reading other people's blogs.

BTW, thanks for the good wishes you left on my blog re: Cezar. He's much better now.

Anonymous said...

Happy Blogoversary!

Loved your post metaphor, carried throughout this post.

Hmm, why I blog. It started as a free way to have a website and grew from there. I love connecting with other people going through the same journey (roller coaster).

-Vicki

S.P. Bowers said...

Happy bloggiversary! My blog just turned two also.

I blog because it's fun and because I meet people who are interesting and who get me and the writing journey.

Trisha said...

I still say 'post' instead of 'blog'. I hate the word blog. ;)

PK HREZO said...

Happy Blogoversary, Tanya!

Isn't it so funny how we all began?? I didn't know the history behind the word blog, so that's good to know!
I had just met EJ Wesley up above on WD community when I learned about blogs. And I was at a loss for what to do with it. Funny thing was, I'd been posting regularly on Facebook for the previous year, and when I discovered blogs were just long facebook posts, it all clicked. ;)

Jess said...

I loved reading this post~ it took me right back to where I was (it's been about 2 years for me too) when I first heard about "blogging." I was baffled and didn't think it was a world where I could fit in. Intimidation central. But I'll tell you what~ my writing would never have improved the way it has (and continues to do...I hope) if I hadn't taken the plunge and gotten involved.

PS~ Sorry I've been bad about commenting lately--new baby has me struggling to jump around the blogosphere--I read blogs, but don't always comment these days. Not sure when things will calm down enough for me to get more consistent with comments.

Valentina Hepburn said...

Happy Blogoversary, Tanya. The beauty of the blog is writing short pieces that will appeal to like-minded people. I've met some great people because of my blog and I love reading their blogs too. Keep blogging, Tanya. You have a great sense of humour and a unique way of looking at things. The blogosphere would definitely not be the same without you!

Shallee said...

Happy blogoversary to you! :) Love your story, and love your blog.

Anthony Hopper said...

Happy 2 month blogoversary!

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