Is Blogging Better Than Sex?

Yes, of course it is! And if you tell me that I only think it is because I haven’t had sex with you… that’s a good point! I can’t argue with that.

Rory of A Guy Called Bloke and K9 Doodlepip has been doing a very interesting (for bloggers anyway, sorry non-bloggers) series, and, in the latest blogepisodes:

Do You Actually … like everything you write about?

What Makes You … want to follow another Blogger’s Blog?

He’s posed some more questions which he’s asked us to answer because he’s up to something…

Yes, I realise that he may be gathering data to take over the world, but, y’know, that could be a really good thing or a really fun bad thing, either way we’ll only find out what it is once it’s a done deed.

Bloggers should support each other in our madness to share ourselves this way, to experiment with our ideas openly when they may be in their infancy and most vulnerable to attack, to expose ourselves to all the ghosts in the machine, right, rather than behave as though the blogosphere and social media is a battle royale.

What makes you want to follow another blogger’s blog?

I love reading. I have been a reading addict since the moment I learned how to do it. I’m one of those people who reads the writing on cereal boxes while having breakfast. I read every sign I see in street. There’s a frisson to reading which makes every atom in my being snap crackle and pop.

“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are only a few types of writing which I don’t like to read (eg. instruction manuals), but I still love looking at the words.

I love words – I realise this may sound like an odd thing for someone with dyslexia to say, but my experience of dyslexia has shown me that words are alive with energy, playful entities, sprites, spirits. They often get me into trouble with their shape-shifting, but it can be one of those curses which is a blessing in disguise.

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”

― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

I love information. I am an information addict too. Why? When? Where? WTF? How? What? Who?

Who are you?

I find people fascinating. I love to explore the worlds within beings.

Through understanding others thanks to what they share of themselves, I understand myself bit better. And by understanding myself a bit better, I understand others a bit better… their stories change as my story changes.

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.”

― Socrates

I read a lot of blogs before I started blogging.

I found them while researching a subject, looking for information, trying to answer questions, solve puzzles, resolve an internal argument, seeking treasures, knowledge, wisdom, escape, to play, to see, hear, feel, touch, taste the invisible visible, the collective unconscious, wandering online, clicking links… where would I end up, what was out there to be found?

“I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.”

― Margaret Atwood

What do you personally look for when deciding to follow another blogger?

I will click follow for many different reasons, the best one is when it’s due to there being something about the way a blogger expresses themselves which sends a shiver of excitement through me.

“If you truly love a book, you should sleep with it, write in it, read aloud from it, and fill its pages with muffin crumbs.”

― Anne Fadiman

When I first started blogging I followed pretty much everyone who followed me. I wanted to immerse myself fully in the experience without thinking too much about it – just doing it.

On Tumblr that worked out well because the Tumblr reader was fun, fast and designed for chaos.

But on WordPress the reader works differently. It’s slower as though it wants you to take your time, to savour what people have shared.

It also may test your resolve to check out the posts of other bloggers. Using the search WordPress feature always leaves me perplexed, and wishing I hadn’t bothered. It’s easier to find WordPress blogs using Google.

I did go through a period of not following anyone because WordPress updated the reader and my mind couldn’t make sense of the new format. And quite a few of the bloggers I followed at that time spammed the reader with post after post, I couldn’t see the posts of other bloggers who only posted once a day or week. I was still hesitant to unfollow those I’d followed at that time.

So I took a break from reading other blogs. I needed a time out then although it took me a while to realise that I did.

I go through phases of not feeling like reading, of not being able to read, and if I force myself the words just bounce off of my eyes.

“A writer should read until he is filled to the brim and like a pitcher which is over-filled over flows. And then he should write.”

― Charles Nodier

Recently I’ve been following more blogs.

I followed Rory because Melanie of Sparks From A Combustible Mind kept mentioning his blog in her posts.

I was curious, checked his blog out, thought it was different – I love different. Creative and inspiring different which opens up a whole new world to explore.

I’ve followed quite a few blogs because of Melanie recommending them, liking them, and because of how they interacted with Melanie on her posts.

I like to read comments on posts, and will consider following a blogger because I like their commenting style.

I always check their blog out, read the About, read a few more posts, sometimes dig into the archive back to their very first posts. It depends.

“There are books full of great writing that don’t have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story… don’t be like the book-snobs who won’t do that. Read sometimes for the words–the language. Don’t be like the play-it-safers who won’t do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.”

― Stephen King

Sometimes I’ll click follow on an impulse – that often works out very well.

Sometimes I’ll ask myself – why did I follow that blog?

And while reading their latest post I may be reminded of what it was about their style which that said follow me.

You’re welcome to ask me why I followed your blog if you’re curious.

If I’m not following your blog, you’re welcome to ask me why.

I sometimes wonder why other bloggers follow me, and why others don’t follow me… although the latter is easier to answer since I am very strange.

“Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer’s work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader’s recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book’s truth.”

― Marcel Proust, Time Regained

Would you follow your own blog and if so why?

Yes. My blog keeps coming in my Google searches. That used to make me laugh because I didn’t expect Google to offer up my posts in its results. I’d go to click on the link but something about it seemed familiar, and then my mind would make the connection… OHhhhhh, that’s me!

If a blog keeps coming up in my searches, I’ll follow it.

One time while reading an interesting post on another blog, I found myself thinking that the words and style was similar to mine, it was so easy to understand, it was as though I was speaking to myself, and then at the bottom of the post there was a credit and link to source. The blogger had pasted and copied a portion of one of my old posts. That was a weird experience, insightful and enlightening.

If I feel as though a blogger is on my wavelength, I’ll follow their blog.

I’m not going to play the false humility game – I effing love my own shit! Which is why I don’t mind if no one else reads or likes it. I love it when people do. But I don’t have a crisis if they don’t… I might grumble a bit because human. As long as I like it, I’ll keep doing it.

I was once tempted to create another blog just to interact with myself on this one – yeah, I know, that’s a friggin awesome idea!

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself.”

― Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

Do you actually like everything you write about?

No.

Sometimes I bore the crap out of myself. I am getting better at deleting the posts I find boring to write, read while I write, and reread before I publish them.

Some of my posts are written by a narrow-minded idiot. Some are written by someone getting their knickers in a twist over a nothing. Some are the mental masturbation of a pompous arse. Some are the desperate cries for attention of an inferiority complex. Some are written by a people-pleaser seeking approval, trying to manipulate their way into getting liked. Some are the ravings of frustrated ego. Some are envious bullets attempting to hit a coveted target. Some are a bitch getting their bitch out, a fury getting their fury out, a pain letting their pain out and being a pain about it. Some are just plain drivel.

“You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.”

― Jiddu Krishnamurti

Other posts are written by a spirited soul enjoying their freedom at last. A monkey swinging through the trees of a forest of their own making, occasionally falling and chuckling at their own clumsiness. A child who has finally figured out how to have a childhood. A misfit who doesn’t mind being an outsider anymore. A being who has discovered how to express themselves and is having fun doing it. A voice which found its sound. A person I like.

“We write in response to what we read and learn; and in the end we write out of our deepest selves.”

― Andrea Barrett

In some ways I do like everything I write because it’s helped me to like myself.

I learn something new about myself with every post… my own and those of others.

That’s it from me…

Over to you!