For years, I've been questioning the purpose of my blog. Scroll down through my posts from this date you'll see a few sporadic entries with chasms of time between. I've add other blogs. Other things to do. Still, lots of gaps.
My reason for this has been my inability to answer the question: who cares?
Who cares about this blog?
I'm not being self-deprecating. It's just that there are lots of writers and lots of blogs and I'm another writer and this is another blog. I think the essential question to ask and answer is: what makes me and this blog different to all the others?
Everyone is unique, like snowflakes and fingerprints, right? And people have varied ways of viewing the world and existing within it. But how different do I need to be to make this worthwhile - not for me, but for you?
Perhaps people could be said to be the accumulation of all their experiences. This seems to be borne out by my interest in dreams. If a thousand people were to dream about a goldfish, no two dreams would be quite the same. Because not everyone owned a goldfish. Not everyone won a goldfish at a fair. Not everyone had a goldfish that jumped out of the tank and died (RIP Moby). Not everyone believes that goldfish are mystical creatures and not everyone has seen the Last Airbender. Not everyone has fears about those eyes that never blink. Not everyone has eaten a goldfish for a dare. Not everyone speaks french and understands a goldfish as 'possion rouge'.
Experiences may be similar, but not quite the same and so, at least in that way, yes, you could say that everyone is different.
But so what?
Well, I've had a look around in my head and I have discovered, shining, at least three reasons to keep this blog.
First of all, a lot of people agree that maintaining a blog is a good way (many would say essential way) for a writer to sell, promote and market their work.
I have a love/hate relationship with self-promotion. I love writing and I enjoy telling people about my stuff and having them read it. If I can do that here, then that's great, but at the same time it physically turns my stomach to type the words 'sell, promote and market' like that.
Writing is a business (or at least it can be) and I am in it for lots of reasons, but having readers and making money is one of them. It's a major one. It's the thing that's going to allow me to continue writing. I need people to buy my books so I can keep enjoying this privilege of doing what I love. If I'm good enough, people will do just that and I will make money. I've accepted that I can't just shovel coal, I have to toot the horn as well. And, really, I think everyone understands that too. It just doesn't feel right.
So there it is. Out in the open, like it wasn't already. I'm writing for $$$MONEY$$$ Oooooh, what a sin!
Join my mailing list. Buy my book. Read some free stuff and tell someone if you liked it.
Secondly, people have enjoyed what I've said on this blog so far. People, ie. more than one person, have told me, unprompted to my knowledge, that they enjoyed my posts and wished that there were more of them. You know what? That's enough reason to continue. People are looking at it. Some of them like it. A lot.
I'm very happy for this blog to be a conversation, so do comment if you feel like it.
Thirdly, I've decided to get back into blogging to find out what happens in the end. This is also one of the main reasons I enjoy writing stories. I don't know precisely what this blog is about yet or what my niche is exactly, but rather than intellectualise it or deploy marketing hobbits I'm going to write the blog to find out.
It would be nice if this blog helps people, but I'm not going to attempt to advise. I'll start by talking primarily about two things that I need to do to stay even. Writing and Meditating/Dreaming.
After 3, 6 or 12 months, maybe they'll be something I wasn't expecting here.
I hope you come with me for the journey.
Thanks for reading.
For more about why I write, you could check out my interview by Kim Terrell over at http://kimterrell.com/2015/01/07/dean-clayton-edwards/
For stuff to read, go look at my writing/work page by clicking in the nav bar or here > http://deancedwards.blogspot.fr/p/blog-page.html
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