Many, many time I've question why I blog. I hate revealing everything about myself and feel guilty if I don't. (A popular blogger recently "came out" admitting that he'd been taking Prozac, and I thought, "Why?" Is it so necessary that our audiences know everything about us?)  Most of my apathy is of the "why bother?" variety. I've had neither positive or negative experiences, I'm just another person throwing stuff out there. I don't really belong to any "clique" of bloggers, and I'm not going to lie and say I don't get jealous when I see the same bloggers being linked to over and over again. I know that's not the point of blogging. I didn't start to have an excuse to write as much as to have an excuse to learn HTML and CSS. I wanted a web site, and starting a blog was the easiest way to go about it. I can't imagine not having one, and I think my writing -- never my strong point -- has improved, but I'm not always overjoyed by it. 

Available Light & Five Dollar Radio

The fact that you take such a casual approach and started (and stuck with) one of your main purposes is great.

I think you hit on something everyone feels now and then.

"I don't really belong to any "clique" of bloggers, and I'm not going to
lie and say I don't get jealous when I see the same bloggers being
linked to over and over again."

Most of us just need to take that with a grain of salt these days.

~Jenn~

Mommy Needs Coffee | Mommybloggers

Why would anyone basically take a journal and publish it on the web? Other than drunk coeds on MySpace I mean. I have no idea. But I love it and I love that people I have never met will send a comment that something I wrote happened to them too or made them laugh. So I guess I'm just an egomaniac desperate for attention from strangers??? That can't be right. Maybe it's to document this time in my life and my kids lives. They are tragic little monsters whom I love dearly but they do some funny stuff. Someone's got to write it down.

I am new to the blogging thing, but I can tell you the past week or so has been enlightening and so much fun!

I found that 1.) Blogging is therapeutic.  I wrote about something that had been inside (no intention to reveal, it just happened) and I cried a cry that I must have desperately needed.  2.) I have gotten so much out of reading that other people deal with life & what it throws at you in much the same way I do.  Sometimes I do feel isolated, in a kind of "not enough people understand" way. 3.) Laughter.  They say that laughter increases the length of life & I think I added a few years this week.

Seemingly selfish, these reasons, but I hope one day someone can get from me what I've gotten from the new blogging friends I have so far.

“I suppose the thing that got to me the most this week when I thought I just could not stand the politics and meanness that is out in the blogging world is the fact that there is goodness, support and love out there as well”.

I am new, and frankly I am shocked at the politics. I started blogging because I started a new job at a Silicon Valley startup, and my boss and I thought that the blogging world would be a good marketing platform for our company. So the start was detached and quite calculated.

A couple of weeks passed by, and I remember telling my husband how much I enjoyed the process of creating my blog, and how much I loved writing in it. I also remember telling him that I love the fact that the blog is only mine – no one can tell me what to write in it. I can say whatever I want and let my personality – good and bad – shine through.

How naïve I was. After a few more weeks, I became emotionally involved. I realized that I wanted more readers, and that in order to have more readers I needed to network, and socialize, and open myself to other bloggers. And when I started doing that, I quickly learned about those things that you and K. Perfetto mention – the cliques (sometimes it feels more like gangs), the politics, the envy, the unfiltered hatred. I learned that I can choose to write honestly, and from my heart, but that even if I always stay respectful and avoid personal attacks, SOMEONE would inevitably take offense to SOMETHING that I wrote and attack ME.

Having said that, I have also learned that while my social life is very busy and satisfying, it is also quite limited, in that almost all my friends are just like me. Blogging enables me to meet people that are incredibly smart, interesting, funny – and different. These people make me THINK. They make me question old beliefs and look at things through new eyes. I consider this a wonderful gift, and I am grateful for that.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

I started blogging for therapeutic reasons; put my thoughts
out there for myself and nothing else. I never dreamed anyone would read my
blog much less leave a comment but they did, lots of people did and they told
me how much they enjoyed my words and how I had helped them see things from a
different point of view. They said I motivated and inspired them. All of my
life I’ve felt like I was just wandering from day to day, place to place, never
finding my niche, never really making a difference to the world until I
realized that I had connected with people and found meaning in my life I had
been searching for. Those connections keep me blogging, knowing my words touch
people and make a difference to them has made all the difference to me. They
may say I’m inspiring them but the real truth of the matter is, they inspire
me.

Diana

http://blog.scalejunkie.com

I remember the day I learned to read and how I realized that I had discovered something tremendous.  I feel the same way about blogging.  I am a writer and it has helped me own my writing voice.  I have opinions that I don't always see expressed other places.  Blogging gives me a forum in which to express those opinions. I crave community and find that I've found a community of women from all over who respond to what I say.  Without this magnificent tool our paths would not ever cross.  It helps me clarify my ideas and values. 

Blogging has also helped me become a more disciplined writer.  I write every day now, although I update my blog every two days. 

Everything in life has a positive and negative and so I don't expect blogging to be any different.  I'm on six month in but I think I've found something I'll be doing for the rest...

Thank you for posing this question.