With the class wrapped up and the dust settled, I thought I’d take some time and look back on how my approach to writing in this blog evolved over the course of the semester – and how I might continue to evolve from here.
When it was first announced that we’d be participating in a group blog, I got very excited. I had toyed with the idea of starting a blog for some time – mainly as a one-stop resource for letting my friends and family know what I was up to, so I wouldn’t have to write a bunch of different, personalized e-mails every time something fun happened. (Lazy, huh?) But I never actually started it up – mostly out of the fear that I would end up with nothing exciting to say.
I wasn’t sure how a “group blog” worked, either – the closest analogue that I could think of was a message board, where multiple people talked back and forth on different threads about a variety of topics. Blogs don’t contain “threads” per se, but you can comment on each other’s posts – so I figured it would be a similar atmosphere. With that in mind, I decided to try to “break the ice” with my new community – starting off with a silly post about blogging in class, and then posting a little write-up about my experiences on Halloween.
The reactions I got were … mixed. The very first reply was someone offering the opinion that this wasn’t what the blog was supposed to be for. And although dissenting opinions weighed in, this wasn’t exactly the conversation I was trying to start. I got confused – apparently a group blog isn’t like a message board after all! – so I decided to fade into the shadows for a little while and see how others approached blogging there.
The blog theme seemed to me to quickly turn to “here’s a link to something web-related, plus my thoughts” – and although I found a few articles and wrote a few drafts, I didn’t feel like I had created anything worth posting. I’ve always been somewhat of a luddite, internet-wise – I don’t know how to torrent, I’m not sure what an RSS feed is, and I can’t socially-bookmark to save my life – and now I was self-conscious to boot. These guys are blogging way over my head! I commented on a few articles, but couldn’t find a comfort level blogging about web-related news articles.
Eventually, as I thought about it more and more, I realized that a compromise solution existed. I could blog about my day, I could tell anecdotes and try to engage my audience – other bloggers – on a conversational level … as long as I made the posts web-related!
After a harrowing family illness, I blogged about my apathetic feelings toward e-cards, and got a number of favorable responses. After trying vainly to find a certain clip on YouTube, I blogged bemoaning the loss of a wild, untamed clip-sharing community, and got a pretty good conversation going there as well.
Hey, this is kinda fun after all! I was happy with the balance I was striking, but it still seemed to me that everyone else was linking to other stuff more than I was. I felt left out – so I tried a series of posts where I listed various ways of accomplishing a goal on the internet. I brainstormed ways people could find other people’s contact info online, and about ways I could have checked the weather without turning on my TV, radio, or looking out the window.
I was happy to be linking to things like all the cool kids, but those posts didn’t generate much feedback at all, and I started to dislike them as a little too forced. Sure, I was telling anecdotes and sharing experiences with the group, but they were getting a little too David-Letterman-Top-Tenny. Here’s the premise, here’s a list of links. Not very organic. I decided that I liked my previous approach better – it fit me more comfortably, and came out of my head onto the keyboard much more smoothly.
So now, the class is over and I’ve tried on a few different blogging styles for size. I’m glad that I tried them all – glad I stretched myself in the format, checked out the boundaries of what I was comfortable with and what the group/audience expected and enjoyed. I think I had a few awkward moments, to be sure, but – as I kept reminding myself – the purpose of this group blog was to learn about blogging!
And, despite any nervousness or awkwardness I went through, I certainly did learn – what blogging was all about, how it differed from writing for print, how audience feedback and group interaction could shape future entries practically in real time.
Honestly, I still don’t know if I’m ready to launch my own blog. I’m still worried that I’ll have nothing to say, and that my friends and family will roll their eyes at my non-adventures ("dear blog: today I had soup!"). But I definitely feel more comfortable with the format. I now know what I feel makes good blog posts – and more importantly, I got some experience with making what I feel to be bad blog posts.
I’ll keep my eye on this blog from time to time, to see if any of my fellow classmates continue to post up adventures, or links, or thoughts about the web. And if I ever do launch my own blog, full of ramblings about my day and snarky, self-deprecating one-liners – well, I’ll be sure to post the link right here.
Thanks for helping me feel my way into the wild world of blogging, folks. I had a great time with you all this semester and I wish you all the best of luck in your future classes and endeavors.
-Jeph
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5 comments:
Jeph,
Your note really hit home. I was very nervous about the blog. I become quite tentative whenever I have to write something to share publicly. I dreaded the class blog and felt it was easier to post links to web related articles rather than write about day to day matters. I appreciate what you had to say and have enjoyed all of your contributions to the blog. I am however glad that the required blogging period has come to an end. Molly
Thanks, Molly! I'm glad you conquered your blog-timidness -- I really liked your post about putting away Christmas. I feel the same way about the traditions and decorations of the holidays ... they've meant a lot to me since I was a little kid. :-)
-Jeph
It's really interesting to hear your thoughts about the blog. (If anyone else is listening, what did you think about it?) I found blogging nervous-making at first too - it's so immediate!
Katherine, I appreciate your comment. I assumed that you loved blogging and that's why it was a part of the class. It makes me feel better that it makes you a little nervous as well. I learned to enjoy it by the end of the class when I found a certain comfort level with it, but it still intimidates me a little to share my ideas. Thanks for a great class!
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