The Quiet Blogger

I wonder if there's a pinnacle to be reached in blogging. Some afternoons, I get so wrapped up in a post, I throw everything else aside, and dive into writing, linking, editing. It doesn't take up all of my time by far, but it preoccupies me at times. When I look back at some of my posts, I wonder if I'd be better off not making some of my thoughts public. I'm at the mercy of my daily whims here. Everything is so off the cuff. I'm not sure if there's a greater good to blogging. A few people read my blog, and for them, I am grateful. Of course, I've alerted few people I know to the fact that I have a blog. So much for self-promotion.

I'm not sure what all of those widgets are for, anyway. I added myself to Technorati, and some other places I've forgotten the names of. Then I went to make some changes in the html, and ended up erasing whatever I'd done. Afterward, I tried adding those widgets on again, but I couldn't figure out where I'd gotten them from, exactly, found some others, but ended up putting them at the very top of my blog, instead of in a more inconspicuous place. The two widgets I have now rate traffic, and so far, I haven't got much. I also added a "ping," which apparently publishes my entries onto another site, so that people can go there and find them. So far, there's a delay of at least a few days in that.

I also visit sites that have long lists of links to sites they like, and I can't figure out how to do that, either. I loose patience trying. Perhaps it's a gradual process. Eventually, I'll build up to a richer blog, complete with links, sundry widgets, and much, much more.

At times I find myself wondering if I'm doing the "right" thing by creating this blog, wondering where I'm headed to, if I wouldn't be better off investing my energies in some other activity, such as gainful employment.

One of my readers made the astute suggestion that I use the blog to build novel material. An excellent suggestion. I might then just be bearing myself even more "bare," I'm afraid, but I'm allowing the thought to slosh around in my head. Perhaps it will take on some form as I move along in time.

I have to admit that I'm not sure what I would do if I knew that hundreds or thousands of people were going to be reading my entries. I prefer the idea of writing into the ether, knowing that a few might be reading, but that my blog mostly goes unnoticed. It's a much safer place to develop whatever it is I'm developing here, if anything at all. I can quietly go about my business.