The View From Here

When I started this blog in early 2005 I had no idea that I would still be here writing.  Even though I have gone through times that I did not write much this blog has become very important to me.  Last night I was talking with my wife and parents about blogging and my mom mentioned that one of the bloggers she reads wrote a post about why they blog.  After two-hundred and eleven posts I have not done this yet and I realized that I wanted to.  So, without further ado here are a few of the reasons I sit down to blog in no particular order:

1. Blogging gives me an outlet to think beyond my brain. I noticed that when I would start to think about something I would sometimes never get quite through.  I would be interrupted, lose interest or get frustrated.  When I sit down to write the ideas stop pinging around in my head and are forced to come out in some sort of orderly fashion.  Not only do I end up (mostly) completing a thought, it makes me think about other thinks related to that thought.  And on and on it goes.
2. Blogging allows me to be real and honest with myself and others. Humans have a tendency to put on a facade or an act to others around us and most problematic, to ourselves.  We want to be seen a certain way.  When we have told others (and subsequently ourselves) the same lie over and over to perpetuate this persona we actually start to believe it ourselves.  You can write a blog this way too; I am not suggesting that a blog is a cure for this mindset.  I set myself firmly against this when I write.  I try to be as honest as is possible with myself.  I don’t want people to see a perfect person here because that is not the truth.  The truth is that I am a sinner in need of grace everyday.  I want people to see a progression in my life toward Christ-likeness.
3. Blogging allows me to share things from my life that I think are fun or important. Life is a joy to live (most of the time).  I want to share the joys that I find with others and since I don’t get to see everyone all the time this is a great way to record them.  I also take the world we live in seriously.  I don’t want to ignore the complications or hard things in life.  No matter how hard I try to act like they aren’t there they always will be.  Instead I want to approach them head on.  This is why I try to keep up with current events and to know my history.  There are things happening in this life beyond me and you that are important and I want to communicate that.
4. Blogging provides a written record that I can look back on. Have you ever thought of something that you knew you should write down then you didn’t write it down and now you can’t remember it?  I have.  Now, if I have an idea I can put it here.  There are many years of my life that I can remember only tiny bits and pieces of.  What would it be like to look back and see more in depth the things I experienced?  What might I not have to learn again and again?
5. Blogging makes me confront things that I might normally avoid. Life is filled with as much joy as sorrow.  Many times I like to take the easy way out and ignore as much of the sorrow as I can.  Why ignore it when you can learn from it?  Blogging helps me work through these things.
6. Blogging is great fun! The more I write the more fun it gets.  I really enjoy playing with words.
7. What better way to put Christ before the nations than on the internet. This medium is constant.  When I put something on here it is available for anyone to read 24 hour a day.  This should definitely not be our only avenue of proclaiming Christ but it is sure a good supplement.

So there you have it.  Some of the reasons I like to blog.  Oh, and I really appreciate those of you who care enough to read what I write and comment occasionally.  It is really great fun to interact with all of you.  And if you are considering joining in on this whole blogging thing I would highly recommend it.  I’ll end with a couple questions.  If you blog, why do you?  If you don’t blog, why don’t you?  Until next time.

Brian

I don’t know if you noticed last month or not, but February was my most posted in month ever.  I had set a goal for my self of posting five times a week (a total of twenty posts) and I did it.  I hope that the content didn’t suffer too much due to trying to churn out a post a day.  As I reviewed this goal I realized that it had a flaw in it.  I don’t think I have enough people checking my site on a daily basis to justify this fast-paced posting.  As a result of it many of you probably didn’t even see half the posts.  I am going to slow that down.  Instead of posting everyday I will put something up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of every week.  Hopefully I will be able to slow things down and put more time, effort and thought into each one.  So, there’s your news flash.  You may all go back to your lives, citizens.

Brian

photo credit: valvados

Ideas are the key to blogging.  Without ideas there are no posts and there is no blog.  So in order to have a successful blog you must come up with many ideas to write about.  Each blogger must decide what a successful blog means to them.  Success might be a achieving a personal goal, having fun, or creating a blog that many people read.  No matter what success looks like to you, you must have ideas to make it happen.

I am by no means an expert on this subject and I am learning more every day but I thought I would share with the few of you who are bloggers where I get my ideas from to write about.  Maybe some of these can help you achieve whatever goal you have for your blog.  Here they are in no particular order.

1.  iGoogle

If you don’t have an iGoogle account you should probably get one.  You can add all kinds of features to it that might inspire you all in one place.  I have mine set up to give me quotes of the day, words of the day, a bible verse of the day, and information from all manner of news websites.  I also set up a page devoted to searching the web.  I can search the dictionary, encyclopedia, maps, amazon, and YouTube.com all from the same page.  So with a visit to my iGoogle page I have a great possibility of being inspired by something I see there.  There are an infinate number of ways to the page up to your style.

2.  Other Blogs

This has been a big one for me recently.  I look for blogs out there that talk about what I am interested in and read them.  Search the web for you different interests and you will eventually come up with something.  Usually I will find one blog that is useful to me and then it will have links to several others that I might find useful or inspiring.  There will come a time when you have too many to be going to all kinds of different websites to check them.  That is when a Feed Reader like Bloglines or FeedJournal comes in handy.  These tools allow you to read all of the blogs you read from one place.  I am always finding great ideas from other people’s heads.

3.  The Bible

This is an invaluable resource for those of us who are following Christ.  God uses His Word to guide us and teach us and putting what He is showing us out on our blogs is a great way to encourage other believers.  It is also a way to reach numerous people that you wouldn’t normally be able to reach.

4.  Reading Books

I love to read all kinds of books.  I really enjoy a good story, biography, or a bit of history I can glean from a book.  All of these things are great inspirations to me when it comes to writing posts for my blog.  It might be an element of a story that gets the creative juices flowing or I it could be that I just want to share a book I found with the people who read what I write.  Either way, books are a great source of insipration.

5.  Movies

Movies are very similar to books but they can be, obviously, much more visually inspiring.  Usually a movie doesn’t make it to the big screen without lots of thought going into it.  There are exceptions, but as a general rule there is some compelling idea that drives the movie.  Even if the ideas aren’t great the imagery can be very inspiring.

6.  Life Situations

I like to think about things a lot, maybe too much sometimes.  I analyze the occurances in my life and others lives trying to discern why they happen.  What motivates actions, thoughts, and words.  Many times I come back laughing.  Finding the humor in life is greatly inspiring to me.  As much as I enjoy critically questioning everyday occurances, sometimes it is best to sit back and enjoy what life brings.  This can be a great source of ideas (especially funny ones) for your blog. 

If you will notice all of the above things have a common thread running through them: I enjoy them.  Maybe some of the above will help you find more inspiration for your blog posts but, if not, look to the things in life that you enjoy the most.  I am sure you will find many things that will inspire you.

Brian