On Blogging

Hi Readers,

I noticed that this post is my 100th post! WOW! When I started blogging a year and a half ago, I did not expect to reach this point. I thought I would have dropped it by now, to join my pile of half-completed projects (some of which are to get buff, a host of programming projects, and other random shiznit). Instead, it's been a refreshing outlet, one that I treated as an extension of myself. Therefore, in this post, I will talk about my views on the practice of blogging.

For all the aspiring bloggers, there are probably several issues that you will encounter.

1. Time

unless you are uber-dedicated to your blog, there will be times when you forget about your blog, or simply cannot find the time to write a new entry. But it's fine! If you are just writing for your own pleasure, then there is no agenda and no schedule. You are simply blogging to express your thoughts and opinions. It's like hanging out with friends - you'll inevitably have periods of time when you say, "I need a break from this person for a little bit." But you'll always come back to it. Looking back a year or two afterward, you'll be shocked at how much you have written over that time period, or even how innovative some posts were.

2. Topics

This is my biggest block for blogging. One would think that, with all the topics under the sun to write about, that it would be easy to blog. NOT TRUE. When you sit down in front of the computer, with the blank screen in front of you, it is very challenging to hash out a topic right there and then to write about. You'll probably have to find inspiration throughout the day and record it down right away. Some people carry a note pad to scribble. Since I always have my cellphone on me, I have a draft of a text message that I use to record down all my ideas.

3. Privacy

This is linked to the important question of who you want your audience to be. If you want millions and billions of people to read your blog, you would probably choose different topics than if you want only your closest friends to read it. What links to your blog? Is it a visible but temporary Facebook status update or hidden in your info section but always accessible? You can let your privacy settings determine what you blog about, or let your blog topics determine how private you want to set your blog. Me personally, my thought process goes like this: "if they care enough to click on my blog link in the info section of my Facebook profile, then they probably want to know more about me." So I post personal stuff, but not too personal. But I NEVER let my parents or family read it.

In my opinion, is blogging worth it? Absolutely. I have lost count of the number of times that I've just sat back and browsed through my old blog entries. The most amazing part is to read it and think, "wow I can't believe I actually went through this." Writing the most recent post is always the hardest, and you'll always feel like the last post was better than the current one. But trust me, it's really worth it in the end. So give it a try!

-FCDH