So, here we are. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s kind of an existential challenge to choose a course of action that seems doomed to fail. I\u2019m a pretty risk-averse person; I would NEVER open a restaurant, for example. Granted I\u2019m not risking much financially here, but time is valuable too. Before embarking, I decided I needed to better understand why I was so compelled to blog in a TikTok world. Also I love doing research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, I was intuitively aware of what makes blogs unique, I just didn\u2019t know it. In case anyone actually reads this and also isn\u2019t aware, I\u2019ll pull a quote that references now-defunct Gawker that I think explains it beautifully: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlogging was fun, and it broke the rules. As founder Nick Denton said in a 2013 interview, \u201cThe basic concept of Gawker was two journalists in a bar telling each other a story that\u2019s much more interesting than whatever hits the papers the next day.\u201d Which is another way of saying Gawker tried to harness the conversational informality of blogging, the way the medium bypassed the codified rules of print journalism.\u201d<\/p>Jeet Heer, The New Republic<\/a> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Blogging IS fun, because it IS conversational and informal. It\u2019s also unique for precisely those reasons, filling a niche that is most definitely NOT filled by Instagram, TikTok, or whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, blogging is THE means of longer-form communication and engagement, and maybe that\u2019s why I feel compelled to do it. These days we live in a post-word world, where no one even cares if their pictures are worth 1,000 words because no one cares about communicating that much anyway.\u00a0But I care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sigh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not trying to be a mommy blogger, or a feminist blogger, or really any current kind of blogger. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And I have my reasons, which I’ll explain. But mostly I just want to write real shit and hope that it makes other people feel seen, on a platform that’s not filled with Pinterest links and paid endorsements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not slaying. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nor do I feel like a #girlboss, or actually any kind of #boss. Mostly I am riding alternating waves of empowerment, uncertainty, crippling anxiety, and exhaustion-fueled apathy. Occasionally a seagull shits irritability into the mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Which isn’t to say that I don’t believe in empowerment, inspiration, or the value of influencers (the good ones anyway, and by that I mean genuine and non-evil). On the contrary, I religiously follow a certain influencer whose energy and enthusiasm helped me decide that blogging could be worth a shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, however, am not one of those people. For a while that really bothered me, but it’s just not what I bring to the table. Not at this particular moment in time anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe this blog is. I guess we’ll find out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why would I do such a thing? is a reasonable first question. For one thing, I love, and want, to write. More specifically, I love, and want, to blog.\u00a0 Also, I have things to say that I hope people will relate to, because I would if someone said them to me (and I wish they<\/p>\n

Continue reading “Apparently blogging is dying a painful death. So I decided to start a blog.”<\/span>