True Life Seek

I’m writing this entry because I am having problems with blogging. I tried to inspire myself to blog, and it didn’t work. I tried to get some other bloggers to inspire me to blog, and it didn’t work. I tried to get a solo Kanna Arihara DVD to inspire me to blog. Well, I liked that, but it didn’t get me blogging.

I’m going to go over a few points initially, but the purpose of this entry is the survey at the end of it. I would like to get answers from all different bloggers and perspectives, even from people that dislike this blog. I care what other people have to say because, as I loosely connect before the survey, blogging and community go hand-in-hand. I didn’t write out a reasonably argued thesis on the subject, but I believe it to be true.

I’ve been told that on a “return post” not to waste time by saying “blah blah this is why I won’t be posting” or “blah blah I’m back.” I agreed with that at the time. Of course, now that I am in this situation, I am going to be a hypocrite.

I haven’t been blogging lately, not for True Life Seek nor International Wota. It’s not due to time constraints or other commitments. When those reasons come up, I’ve dealt with them and returned to blogging without a peep afterwards. I have been able to start writing entries for blogs lately, but have had no desire to finish them. And I see a much larger problem here.

I’ve been questioning the reasons to blog. I’ve been wondering what I hope to gain and my reasons to continue blogging. This was predictable. Lots of blogs in the jpop blogosphere die off within after a few months. I’d be at that stage around now.

Writing, and thus blogging, is written to be read. I’m not sure myself if this is an absolute, but it is true for nearly every case that I can think of. It can be written to an audience that is tangible or imaginary. It can read alone in thought or aloud. Whatever the case, writing is written to be read. Thus, I can’t imagine a blog that does not consider an audience, even if the audience is real or, in the case of Nocchi Drives Me Wild, imaginative.

Blogs are written to be read, but that in and of itself is no reason to blog. Wanting to be read because it’ll cause happiness, ego boosting, money gains, etc.; these are reasons to blog. So what are my reasons? I’m struggling to pinpoint it.

Originally, blogging was something fun and exciting. I was doing something that I’ve never done before - writing for an audience. Furthermore, I was becoming a part of the International Wota community. I had been following it, so I knew who was who. Seeing these people notice my blog had its own allure. The thrills of blogging have decreased lately. If I’m not enjoying myself, why even blog?

As blogging is very much a public activity, I feel the best way to getting some inspiration to start blogging again is to ask other bloggers some questions. So I’ve written up a little survey. You can pick and choose what questions in this survey you wish to answer. Answer all, answer some, even answer none if you please. Providing some sort of answer to “Why Blog?” is all I’m asking for. The questions are just to help those who don’t have answers right away.

I asked a number of bloggers (use the IW community!) questions to form this survey. If I asked you, please consider this me asking you again. It is already difficult to keep track of who said what.

Answers emailed to me will remain anonymous. If you feel you have a blog entry that answers this sirvey and don’t want to write up an email to me, leave a comment. If you want to turn your answers into a blog entry of your own, I highly encourage it. I just ask that you leave a comment or pingback so I am aware of your entry. Also, I ask that you not title your entry “Survey Says…” Come on now.

Why is this important? Well, you could possibly help in motivating me to start blogging regularly again. You could also help change the direction of TLS. I’m hoping the answers I get give me a better sense of why I should be blogging. If I have that in mind, I can create better entries. I also think you can help your own blog. If I believe that direction and stated goals will help me better focus my blogging, then why shouldn’t it help you?

I will share the answers here on TLS. Concerning the emails, I am not looking for which blogger says what. It’d give me a better understanding of your answers to know this, but it’s not necessary. Email me from an anonymous return address, that’s fine. All I ask are two things:

One, that you are a blogger. What kind of blogger doesn’t matter. Hello!Project, Johhny’s, J-Rock, SuJu, Halicali, whatever. If you stumbled upon this entry and don’t write about the entertainment industry, that’s fine. Obviously, I’m going to prefer to hear from blogs similar to this one, but I’m looking for any perspective that I can get. The amount of time that you’ve been blogging doesn’t matter. You can be active or inactive. Just so long as you’ve blogged at least one entry, I think that’s enough to satisfy. As for regular and consistent readers that don’t blog, I think that your position will have to be covered another day. Granted, the success of blogging is hinged on the reader. I am looking for first-hand experience in this survey though.

Second, be honest. This is obvious but it needs to be emphasized. This is why I am keeping emails anonymous. I don’t want anyone to feel they will damage their reputation by taking this survey. If you are blogging to impress someone or to make a quick buck, don’t be ashamed to say so. The only thing I ask you not tell me is if your blog is a part of scheme geared towards global domination. I don’t want to know too much.

Let’s get to the survey. Again, you don’t have to answer all of it or do it by the letter. Email anything you come up with to broomhead AT truelifeseek DOT com. Sorry for being paranoid about the formatting, but I get enough spam as it is.

Goals:

• Why do you blog?
• What long-term goals do you hope to accomplish, if any at all?
• Where does your blog fail to meet your goals?
• If you do have goals, what will accomplishing them do for yourself?
• What do you want to gain out of blogging? A creative outlet? Praise from others? Personal satisfaction? Money?
• Do you feel that your blog should meet a requirement for amount of entries? Do you feel any particular entry should be a certain length?
• For any particular entry, what motivates you to start and finish blog posts?
• Do you actively consider long term goals for each individual post?

Subject Material:

• What do you blog about?
• Would you be keep a blog even if it wasn’t about the subjects you tend to cover?
• Do you write about the material to promote it to others?

Readership:

• How much do you care about readership?
• Does it satisfy you to know people are reading, even if they don’t comment?
• What effect does receiving a comment have on you?
• Do you write with a particular audience in mind or an unspecified general audience? Why?
• If you write for a particular audience, is it International Wota? If yes, why?

Community: (The International Wota section)

• If International Wota didn’t exist, would you blog?
• When IW covers an entry of yours, are you encouraged to blog more or less?
• When IW does not cover an entry, are you encouraged to blog more or less?
• How often do you read other blogs?
• How often do you comment on other blogs?
• If another blog covers a topic that you wanted or wished to cover, do you still blog about that specific topic? Why or why not?

Commitment:

• How serious is your attitude towards blogging? Do you consider it just as something to do for fun?
• How often do you blog? How often would you like to blog?
• What priorities do you or have you put aside in order to blog? Why?
• Do you see yourself blogging in 6 months? Why or why not

Personal:

• Would you say you blog for yourself?
• What is your feeling after posting an entry? Is it relative to the time and effort you put in an entry?
• What needs does blogging fulfill?
• Do you consider yourself a writer?
• Do you consider yourself good at writing? Good at blogging?
• How much of your personal life do you share on your blog? If none, why do you leave this out?

Thank for any time you spend doing this!

I may have missed out on a major aspect of blogging. If I have, let me know. But again, this is just a guideline. I want to know why you blog, and that answer can come in any form. Again, if you decide to email me, my address is at broomhead AT truelifeseek DOT com. I will put up an entry going over any response I get by Monday the 19th at the earliest and Friday the 23rd at the latest.

Posted on May 14th, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under Articles.
Tags: blogging