Blogging into the New Year

Blogging into the New Year, in a certain way as bloggers we might feel connected with other bloggers from all over the world. Its the magic of the internet that catches us.

How many bloggers are not on the internet willing to shine a light, not wanting to hide, hoping to bring some nice reading and some positive vibes to others, somewhere in the world. Some target a specific public, others do not mind sharing their diary with the world. Whatever reason they blog, is that what they write would be read by ‘some one’.

Janie Leeds writes

I happen to think that there’s a teensy bit of fear in all of us from time to time that squelches our ability to shine our heartlights and I’m choosing to figure out how to allow my heartlight to shine without fear! {This Little Light o’ Mine}

Many therefore just let the words roll over the screen, without fear. Perhaps they too think like J. Leeds that

we have to build our confidence and find someone trustworthy to shine with when we feel that desire to shine and to brilliantly explode our special brand of light into the universe. {This Little Light o’ Mine}

Though many might feel

It’s scary when we choose to be our authentic selves without fear. It’s being vulnerable which sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable. {This Little Light o’ Mine}

We always can wonder why or for whom those bloggers write. For themself? For their community/friends? For the world at large?

Judgy Young Pessimist or Jewish Young(-ish) Professional has the same question as us on her lips:

Maybe we write for different people at different times or maybe we write for all of them. {For Whom Do You Write?}

New Year’s Day finds one reflecting on some of their past resolutions and their outcomes. Bloggers might then perhaps think about what they wrote in the past year or how many blogposts they managed to create.

Lots of bloggers shall express and live by the hope that this fresh year will bring us something better than we had for the last years. So many want to forget Covid (though it is still not finished) and want to see an end to ‘that war‘ going on in Ukraine. Many bloggers leave that war in the fridge, only writing about other and hopefully also better things. Good tidings.

Let’s hope for the best and do our level best to make this year a memorable one for the people around us. Let’s resolve to spread happiness, empathy and goodness in the world. Let’s be humane and humble. {Happy New Year 2023}

writes a freelance writer who finds he is doing fine and has a lot to be thankful for, because “Allah, the Almighty” has been so kind to him. He is also aware we do not know much about the future. He thinks we can not predict the days ahead.

Can we not rid ourselves of unfounded fears? Can we not enjoy this precious MOMENT (present), instead of living in the past or worrying about the future? {Why Do We Worry About The Future? Why Don’t We Enjoy The Present Moment?}

Those who believe in God can find enough advice in the Book of books, the Bible, where the ‘bloggers’ of ancient times wrote down what we should know. In those books is enough said about times still to come, and as such do we know what to expect. Concerning those end times there are several bloggers on the net talking about how we can prepare for those times.

Many other subjects gain much more attention. Many blogging platforms are being used, but also many disappeared and bloggers had to change platforms again last year. The greatest change last year was the leaving Blogger and Blogspot by many bloggers, because those blog systems had become too slow and unworkable. This could be an asset to WordPress, but it was also discussed last year, due to its introduction of the less practical Gutenberg Block editor system.

Several bloggers let themselves be guided by prompts or requested tasks by other bloggers.

sometimes, prompts provide that inspiration for a piece that may have been ruminating,

writes JYP. We also admit some blogposts find their origin in something we notice on the net or some event that reached the news. In any case, the main reason to write such a post is for many to share something they find interesting or has something to do with their community or faith. As such, JYP for example wanted to share about Jewish community prompted by one of Fandango‘s Provocative Questions

– and it’s since become the basis for the whole pond/community/housing search tortured analogy saga. Prompts can provide both the inspiration for something I never expected to write and the necessary nudge to write something that were already ruminating. {For Whom Do You Write?}

Some bloggers like to tell the world about their very private things, whilst others prefer to stay in the anonymity or would not dare to talk about something personal. For some personal self-expression is the primary motivator for writing their blog and wanting to get an audience.

These are the posts that arguably could have been written in a private diary. These are the posts that might have less “polish” because sharing a message with an external audience isn’t the primary goal. These are the blog posts that feel less like public speaking, and more like casual conversation, or even just venting. {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

These posts are the casual conversation, maybe even the therapy sessions, of blogging – intimacy, sweats, and all. Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-women-talking-to-each-other-4051134/

The problem with some of those blogs is that we feel more like in a café, catching up on some conversations. Others have a message they want to promote like we too have some good new to tell.

According to JYP promotional blog posts are those that:

• Have a message that the author wants to share externally. (eg. This is not a post that the author could have written in their private diary)
• Because the author wants to share this message, the post tends to have some “polish”. {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

she rightly compares this to public speaking

– the most heartfelt, sincere, genuine speaker is going to make a point of revising and editing, practicing, and putting on more professional attire/ hygiene/ grooming/ makeup etc. (vs. brain dump whilst looking disheveled) to look more presentable to an external audience so the message comes across better. {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

For her

the promotional vs. personal classification applies to all kinds of blogging {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

What we notice, looking at the Blogosphere and social media, is that lots of people want to be part of a community.

JYP thinks

the sense of community is probably the greatest strength of a well-run prompt. {For Whom Do You Write?}

In our globalising industrialist capitalist world, where there are so many people walking around, most people are just lost in the mass. Several people hope to escape their loneliness, but on the internet, they also find such an empty space. By blogging they do hope to have some reactions by which they would not feel so on their own. By writing a blog they want to break the silence and their loneliness.

Look, the internet is a big, lonely place. Blogging helps build community. Prompts can create a sense of community rituals and norms. It’s been fascinating to see the way bloggers will show up for each other, even within the simple forum of a prompt response. And it’s incredible to see how a prompt “ritual” goes beyond that, like when fellow bloggers share sad news with other prompt participants who respond with tributes and memories. {For Whom Do You Write?}

It is by such reactions the blogger may feel his or her work is appreciated and worthwhile doing. Responses on blogs also may trigger curiosity to go and look at that blogger his pages. If answers are given to a blog post, those comments may prompt the blogger to check his or her blog with that responding person. In this way, an exchange of ideas can arise among certain people who eventually become part of a small or larger group of regularly exchanging people.

To be clear, I think blogging without prompts can build community as well. But if you imagine the blog world as a religious community (bear with me), while you absolutely can and should socialize with fellow congregants outside of regularly scheduled services, some members will really appreciate the regular weekly meeting times to connect with their fellow congregants. {For Whom Do You Write?}

writes JYP. As such we can find bloggers who make it a custom to publish every week on a certain day an article. They even go to apologize when they did not. Or certain bloggers want to see for every day another sort of blog, be it a poetry day, haiku day, tanka day, garden day, short story day, thriller day, relaxation or meditation day  …. Some even want to have days for an amount of words.

We may not forget

Not all of our followers will care about everything we say. And even in blogging where we create more community through prompts, not all of our fellow prompt participants are going to be interested in our other writings. {For Whom Do You Write?}

Another aspect we may not forget or overlook

The reality is that almost none of us will become famous or make any real money from blogging, so you might as well write for yourself in addition to whomever else you’re writing for.

If, in the course of blogging and responding to prompts, you don’t feel like you’re writing for yourself, it might be a sign to take a step back and figure out how to incorporate prompts in a way that feels more authentic to you. {For Whom Do You Write?}

In our busy world, we have limited time to do certain things for ourselves, like reading. On the net there is so much to read, it is impossible to read everything or to follow every blog full-time. Even when we are following a blog or others are following our blog, we can not expect that they read every blog, and certainly not that they notice or look at every blog on the day it is written.

we’re not necessarily interested in every post that another blogger writes. {For Whom Do You Write?}

It is logical that everyone has their own preferences for certain subjects and will look for interesting literature in this area. In that respect, it is not bad that the internet offers such a variety of subjects so that everyone can find something to their own liking.

We from our site are happy you came to read this post, and honestly do hope you’ll have also got a taste for reading here a bit more than just this article.

Welcome to From Guestwriters in 2023, and hope to see you more.

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Preceding

Asking for a Re-Blog

When you think you have nothing to say or to show

Readers, likes and comments

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Additional reading

1. WordPress appears to have fallen off its best horse
2. A Classic Editor versus Block Editor
3. From old times and sites to new linkings
4. Five years on WordPress
5. From MSN Groups and MSN Spaces via Multiply to Blogspot now transferring to WordPress
6. In case Blogger goes further with her new interface
7. Blogger seems too slow to be practical
8. Our World on Blogger coming to its end
9. “Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress
10. Walking alone? (Our World) = Walking alone? (Some View on the World)
11. What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
12. Companionship
13. Presenting views from different sources
14. Newspapers: Dying or Changing
15. Pleased to find Christadelphian World on the net
16. 2010 – 2014 in review
17. First blog post
18. My World…
19. Blogging in the world for Jesus and his Father
20. Immanuel’s first two years of blogging on WordPress
21. If no one died because of War – how different would worlds appear to be

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