Thursday, March 06, 2014

The Blog is Dead! (Long Live the Blog!)

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!
We are all savvy consumers of eGoods by this point, with our ethises and ethats pouring into our brains and homes at a pace faster than a galloping gazelle.  eBooks!  eFriends!  eFamilies and sheets and blankets and lives and alter-egos and fandoms and playmates!

Of course it really all started with eMail.  Then it was chatting on ‘boards’ or ‘rooms,’ how quaint.  Then IM, then came blogs.  Ah, blogs.

I started thishere blog in the fall of 2005, or about 8.5 years ago.  I was in a very different place in my life, with a very different brain, but all along in the blog thing I meant only to write as myself, for me, about me, sometimes only TO me.  It was a heady time of personal blogs, with everyone having at least one, and some of us tapping away on multiples, several times a week.

All for fun.

(OK, there was the Shrinking Piggies blog, which was for motivation, but we had fun there too!).

I am sad to report that, as reported before here among other places, things have changed and the tide has not yet turned back to 'blogging for fun.'  No, nowadays it appears that it's blogging for profit,' which is not the same thing at all.

Today I read this festive little piece about how to get started in blogging, build traffic, and eventually turn that ol’ blog into a money-maker.  It’s divine….ly depressing.  Note how the notion of ‘blog’ is now a topic-bound item, with no room for ‘middle of the night ranting.’  That you have to find your ‘niche,’ and trackback, tweet/retweet, pingback, link lavishly, namedrop, cajole, wheedle, and spit on your thumbs to make any success at all from your blog.  You have to put in HOURS of research for one post, so writing even just one post daily is like a full-time job, but hey Mister if you want to be a world-famous blogger, you have to put in the tough hours, do the hard work, nose to the grindstone (or screen) and churn out that dang work.

Yuck.

No.

That’s sounds like about as much fun as….working, and I do enough of that already.  So, don’t listen to that dour buzzkill, kiddoes – just write from the heart, write fast and furiously, do what you love and the money will follow!

Just as long as you remember that retweeting thing.  That probably works.

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If you are ever in the market for a new dishwasher, don’t even THINK of getting anything but a Bosch. 

Wise words you’d do best to heed.

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Our roof needs to be replaced, the house needs to be repainted (or re-sided), it’d be nice to have a new-to-us car for commuting purposes (gas savings, here I come!), but what I would REALLY do if I had an extra few thousand bucks?

HOT TUB.

Aw, yeah.

What would YOU do if you got an extra, say, $5000 to use however you wanted?  I’m thinking hot tub is #1 on most lists, am I right?

Do blather on about your choices down in the comments, and we’ll see one another again soon.


Tiff out.

10 comments:

Bev Sykes said...

My journal, Funny the World (still can't call it a "blog"), is about to celebrate its 14th year, started in March of 2000. At first I used to check stats and be jealous of those who had more followers than I do.

Now, all these years later, I write for me. I get offers all the time for ads, and I never respond because I like writing; I'm not doing it for profit.

Congratulations on 8 years, and on doing this for the fun of it!

kenju said...

I missed my blog anniversary this year; it fell in January and now it is 9 years since I first started a blog. I would never try to blog for profit - too much work and counter to my original purpose, which was a place to vent, to share and to learn.

Hot tub all the way!! And on days like today, I would probably be in it for hours.

Sparky said...

Hot tubs freak me out, so no.
But I'd love a sun room., with a ceiling fan and a loungey-couchy thing to curl up on with a book in the sun or to watch the rain drops on the roof.
Yeah, that.
I don't wanna blog for money either, and I hate going to those blogs that do. ugh. hurts me.

Warped Mind of Ron said...

Hmmm.... hot tub plus some super model rental types to celebrate.

Middle Girl said...

Hmm...let's see, five grand would buy me a new bathroom I think. A new jacuzzi type tub mayhaps. Yeah, that'd be good.

Or maybe new windows with a bit left over for a wee vacation. :-)

Blogging for fun. Blogging for (you, me, few) YaY!!

Keep on keeping on. My anniversary is this month.

Anonymous said...

5 grand? Europe... yeah baby

Karen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rennratt said...

My 8th blogging anniversary passed back in January. I forgot...

I don't really post much these days, but won't flip to the 'blog for money' idea OR shut the thing down. If I'm going to be paid to write, it'll be for a darn BOOK. Time will tell on that one.

If I had $5,000 to play with, part of it would go to a sunroom/deck (it would have to be removable because of where we live). I would spend the rest on, well, fun little trips to wherever with my family.
Now that we are a family of FOUR (husband's niece joined us 3 weeks ago), the money could also be used for extras like towels and beds...

LL said...

*Whew* For a minute there... I thought you were hanging it up! ;)

carmilevy said...

As much as the world seems to have shifted toward Facebook, Twitter and other more social platforms, my blog feels like the quiet kitchen chat it was when I first started it in 2994. God, that's a lifetime ago.

It's the one place where I can write without boundaries, borders or editors. I started it as a kind of writer's playground, and not a whole lot has changed in the almost-decade since. Except for the fact that I've met some really cool people along the way. Like you!