I love blogging
This is going to be sort of a meta post, but I just felt such an sense of joy after publishing my last post that I felt I had to write more.
I’ve long wanted to have a blog. Practically ever since I learned HTML programming with my dad when I was 10, I’ve wanted to have a web presence of some sort. And so I coded various websites to try to fulfill that desire. I found out about free hosting on GitHub Pages, and set up a static site generator to publish to it. But I never had anything to say, and so never used my shiny new website. Then I learned about Wordpress and paid for hosting so I could set up a pretty slick website with a hip theme. But again, I didn’t know what to say.
I think whenever I set up a new site I always got caught in the trap of feeling like I needed to write in a niche. Cause if I didn’t find my niche, who would want to read my content? I certainly didn’t want to just post random thoughts. So I tried to imitate websites I liked, like How-To Geek, and posted stuff I was learning about, especially about technology. But that never lasted long. I simply didn’t enjoy regurgitating the stuff I had just found on other websites—it didn’t feel like I was helping anybody.
In addition, if I made a website and attached my name to it, I felt the pressure to be perfect, because any future employer or random curious person on the internet might find that site and judge me on it. So I felt very shy about posting anything remotely personal.
Most of this all happened in my high school years. Fast forward now to after college. I had been using RSS for a couple years to keep up with various blogs and YouTube channels (just trying to to avoid getting sucked into the algorithm), and found that I was reading a lot of personal blogs. I followed Manu off and on for probably five years now, and then recently added Tiramisu and Eve, Cory Dransfeldt and Herman. On top of that, a couple of my friends started personal blogs in this last year to keep their friends up to date on their lives without having to use social media. And finally, after seeing how all these people wrote on the internet, blogging made sense to me.
I don’t have to write about anything profound or generally significant. I can just write about stuff that I care about. And because I write under a pseudonym, I don’t have to worry about my random thoughts being attached to my name forever. (Of course, some of my friends know about my site and maybe read it, but that’s fine —they’re my friends for a reason.) I had been tethered to the idea that posts need to be informative, or smart, or funny. But really, they just have to be personal and real. For instance, some of my favorite posts from other bloggers follow the pattern of a smattering of lists covering their week (eg. current music, books, or posts they’re enjoying, things they’ve been doing, etc etc). For an example, see the weekly notes by JC Probably. I follow this particular blogger almost solely for those weekly recaps. Yes, I typically find interesting things when I read them, but they also make me feel like I’m connecting with another person. Tech blogs are fine, but they can never provide that personal connection.
I guess the point is, I’ve learned that I don’t have to find a niche or a particular topic to have a blog. I can just write about myself, and be pseudonymous to avoid the fear of being too public on the internet.
It also just feels really good to put my thoughts onto “paper” in a way that’s more public than my personal journal. I love the thought of others occasionally stumbling on something I’ve written and feeling like they got a glimpse into someone else’s life.
Anyhow, meta-post over :)
-Jakobus