If You Run Out of Reasons to Blog, Try My Suggestions

List down 10 reasons why you want to keep (or have kept) a personal blog.

Off the top of my head, here are a few weird reasons why I have a blog.

 

I wrote one post solely for the selfish purpose of using the word ‘fungible’ . With blogging, I can play with words and call a jumble of them ‘poetry‘ without worrying about rhythm and meter. My English Lit professor would have easily thrown this to the bin. Gladly, I’m not doing it to please him.  Here’s another example: this  Island Trotter post  actually has two words I love most: emancipation and ethereal.

2. I can ask myself questions and answer them, too!

How cool is that? It’s like having a talk show where I am also the special guest. Check out these examples:

• Why I Don’t Trust Even the Mildest Supermarket Beauty Soap
• Why “B” Silent?
• 29 Questions I Still Ask Myself

See what I did there? If you do this to your friends, i.e. make them a sounding board, they will get tired of you sooner rather than later. If you bombard your blog with Q & A sessions, no harm done. Your blog has the patience of a saint.

3. I can learn editing for free.

Lots of my old blog posts are riddled with grammar errors. I sure didn’t write the same way three or four years ago so my old posts can benefit from the wisdom of the present ‘me’. Good editors are hard to find (and they’re not cheap, mind you) so learning to clean up your own messy work saves you money, gives you a chance to practice and redeems your credibility.

Everything we have learned will die with us if we don’t teach them. A blog allows you to be a ‘teacher’ of something, anything you feel other people should know about to live better or smarter or happier.

• How to Persuasively Describe a Friend
• On Job Satisfaction: Be More than Just a Quick Quitter
• Top 10 Job Websites in Dubai
• How to Reduce Your Monthly Coffee Bill (With Only 2 Simple Changes)

5. I can learn a bit about technology even if I’m not as techie as Neil.

Suddenly, lofty terms like Search Engine Optimization, Social media management and widgets are not strangers anymore. They don’t scare you after massive exposure to them through blogging. You even embrace them, talk about them and still make sense.

6. I can praise or bash my favorite and least favorite things, shows, celebs, etc.

I’m not sure you’ve read these posts before. If not, check them out.

• Why Sherlock Would be a Bad Boyfriend
• Thoughts on the Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury
• Who’s Your Favorite Stand-up Comedian

7. I can rant. Freely.

Although I’m rarely infuriated (as anger drains energy and blurs thinking – at least for me),  I would sometimes write because I was really mad, annoyed, or disappointed. Blogging is free therapy.

Do you remember these?

• Confessions of a First-Time Rock Climber
• The Ugly Truths About Most Weekend Travels
• Who Let the Bed Bugs Out 
• Bukas sa Payatas

8. I can tell stories or make them up.

And have so much fun along the way.  It kept me busy while I was working abroad.

• Peach – the Dragonfly Chaser
• The Water-Seller’s Golden Children
• Ang Pamamayapa
• Engkanto

Every girl who can dream should blog. It’s amusing as it is challenging. Here are a few posts about my aspirations:

• What’s the Shape of Your Dream House? 
• My Dream Jobs
• Why a Classic Mini-Cooper May Not Be a Bad Investment

10. I’m allowed to be my weird self.

When you own a blog, you’re the queen or king or bishop or knight of your space. You call the shots.  You are who you want to be. No boundaries, you’re just bound by respect for yourself and others. I can talk about a queer opening in chess,  make a poem about chess, and write my tatay a love poem , or my beloved,  or myself. Anything my brain likes to scribble.

Claim your free space. And remember why you did. I’m done with my list, will you share yours?