It’s time for our next writing competition. I enjoyed our first one, and I hope you did too.
This time, please share your blogging experiences in a short “Why Blog?” essay. Make it inspiring, and motivating, and up to 200 words in length.
You’re sharing YOUR experiences, so tell us about your blog if you have one. If you don’t yet have a blog, tell us why you should be blogging — what your blog will do for you once you’ve created it. 
Important: please post your entry in the Comments to this post, nowhere else. If you send me a private email, that doesn’t count — you must post in the Comments here.
The Prize
Your prize is a subscription to the Lazy Rich Blogger method training, which is six months long. This training will open your eyes to the immense possibilities of blogs (which are really just websites), I promise.
The winning entry will be chosen by a current SYWON member.
The Contest Rules
Please read these rules carefully, and follow them.
1. You MUST be subscribed to Fab Freelance Writing Ezine to win. If you’ve received this post via email, you’re subscribed.
2. Post your entry in the Comments to this post. No other entries will be considered. Comments are moderated, and any entries with promotional links (such as those to affiliate products) will be summarily deleted.
3. The prize is not transferable. That is, should you win, you may not sell the prize to someone else, nor may you exchange the prize for cash, by selling it on eBay, or anywhere else. If you win, you win.
4. Entries close on June 4, 2010. The winner will be notified by June 10, 2010, by email. The winning entry will also be announced here.
5. Current Lazy Rich Blogger members: if you win, you complete your training for free — so do enter.
6. You may enter more than once if you wish — up to three times. (Just in case you have a lot to say. )
Good luck, and enjoy — I’m looking forward to reading your “Why Blog?” essays.
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As a veteran of the U.S. Armed Services, I blog as a way to try and both simplify the convoluted information and correct much of the inaccurate information surrounding the G.I. Bills. With five active Bills, each having their own set of rules and benefits, it becomes so frustrating for some veterans and servicemembers alike, that they simply give up.
In my blogs, I’ll take a question and give an honest answer with sound information veterans can use when deciding on what education benefits they are eligible for and how to maximize the use their benefits.
The military was good to me and this is my way of giving something back – throwing a life-raft of useful, relevant information and links into a sea of confusion and inaccuracies. Thank-you.
My blog allows me to stretch my mind when I am not working. I am a writer, and I love following my passion toward writing as a life’s purpose. So I thought, why not have a blog that serves in the purpose too? Along with the mind exercise and happiness dose I derive from my blog-place, I get a sense of pleasure when other upcoming and experienced writers gain something from my little blog corner. I absolutely love the idea to write about writing, about the mistakes I’ve done, about the fresh lessons I learn with each passing day and about the quirkiness of my work at times. I share these via my blog posts, to help clear muddy waters, for others struggling with the idea of whether or not to start a blog, or perhaps with the dangling question of pursuance of their great passion: writing.
All in all, blogging is like breathing to me. I get a sense of pure bliss when I see people benefiting from my pieces. I feel grateful to myself for writing.
-BrownEyed
I am a professional writer with a focus on resumes, articles, public relations, and Web content. I have found blogging to be a good way to promote my areas of expertise, drive traffic to my Web site, and share trade tips with colleagues. That’s all good and fine, but I’m also a stay/work-at-home parent. Being at home with the kids has resulted in my sanity, my hair, and most of my office supplies to disappear. While my experiences with my kids are priceless if it weren’t for school, I’m sure I would have chewed one of my limbs off by now. I’m certain that there are many other people doing the same thing. That’s why I started a new blog to vent…. I mean….. commiserate with the world about the “joys” of being a stay-at-home parent who also needs to earn a living. Sleep is just one of those items on my to-do list that comes right after checking homework, making lunches, and single-handedly cleaning up the gulf coast oil spill.
I’ve started a blog because of my hobby. I adore lighthouses, and as time went by, I have gathered a lot of information about them. Too bad there weren’t much people around me who loved lighthouses as much as I did, but I really wanted to share what I know, so I started a lighthouse-oriented blog.
One can never know about when, how and with whom he’s going to share his knowledge. You may meet a person who wants your information, or you may not. Blog is a nice opportunity to just store your thoughts, observations and experience for anyone who seeks them. You can be sure that they’re read by people who do want to read them. Another great thing about a blog that it has no rules: you set them yourself and just write whatever (and whenever) you like. No deadlines, no demands — just you and your own pace.
So that’s why I blog: I want to share what I know, sometimes I want to systematize my knowledge (you often understand things better when you explain them to someone); and I’m also sure that my blog is read and is found useful by lighthouses fans, just like me.
Why do I blog?
“I blog because I care
I want to develop my writing skill
And hopefully get some monetary gain
And show the world that I have something to say.
But sometimes I get discouraged
Because the words won’t flow well,
But I will keep on blogging
Because it’s the only way
For me to become a better writer
And finally reached my dream.”
I started my own blog last 2009 when I saw that all my friends are into blogging. The type of blogs that I wrote are for personal use only, for introspection and sort of telling the world of what’s happening to me. What appeared in my blog are only my most vivid experiences, and my analysis or opinions regarding the events that are happening to me.
At the initial stage of my blogging, I really felt awkward and I suffered from writers block most of the time. Problems on grammar and sentence construction, fear of being critiqued by my readers were some of the hurdles I’ve experienced.
After quite sometime, I came to the realization that there was really nothing to be ashamed of exposing a part of myself to my audience because it only shows that I’m a real person… subject to frailties and idiosyncrasies and with good and bad things happening in my life once in a while.
I was glad when friends started to comment on my blogs and affirmed on the things that I believed in. Because of my blogs, people who I come across with via the world wide web get to know me for who I really am. Through blogging, my ability to express myself in the English language has improved and by constantly doing, it added coherence, logic and sense to my writing.
If there are things I enjoyed with my blogging routine, it’s because it’s a sort of freewriting… you choose the topic of what you wanna write and no editor will be behind your back to correct you of flaws or anything. I began to like the freedom and the feel of it. Blogging has enabled me to say my thoughts that I could not have evocatively spoken because of my timid personality.
I have a blog for parents and children who are dealing with a serious illness or loss. As a nurse I know there is a lack of personal attention for those families and I believed I could reach them. I also feel I can create material both fictional and nonfictional that can be encouraging, can be educational, and can entertain but I am missing some link to connecting to the web because my readership is not growing. I am discouraged although I have read books on the subject, and would love to learn from others just what it takes to make a blog business grow. I have ideas for children’s books, journals, gifts, prayer books, and even a card line but the key is to find and reach the reader. Do I change my niche, do I write about something I know nothing about, or do I keep plugging away at something that is not working just because I love to do it? Serious questions for serious times.
I blog to share what I learn with others.
I blog to demonstrate to businesses the benefits of blogging for ranking in the search engines and developing a loyal following.
I blog because once I started I found I enjoy it.
I blog because every new experience suggests a new blog.
I blog to make a difference in the world.
I blog to be heard and seen by people who want to know what I have to share.
I blog because some people make a living this way, why not me?
I blog so at the end of the day I have something I can point to in any house that has a computer and say “yeah, I made that.”
I blog because if you say you want to be a writer you have to write, and a blog is a pretty place to put that writing.
I blog to find what I wanted to say all along.
I blog like a two year old who once she found her voice couldn’t shut up.
Hmm, that’s not an essay I see. Oh well, that’s what I have tonight .
Cheers!
Why blog?
So far, I have not written a blog so I cannot speak from experience.
However, one question that always seems to be asked is “What is a
blog or web log?” As I understand it, from research, it is a form of
diary about personal experiences and hobbies. It can be used to
share opinions and discuss various topics to form an online journal
which is regularly updated.
One of my ideas for a blog would be to reflect the surrounding
natural enviroment in the garden, park, urban and rural landscape.
This could form a record of the changing nature of the enviroment
with the seasons. Various issues relating to land use could form a
very useful focus for discussion to encourage input to the blog.
The more I consider this idea for a blog, the more I am motivated
to give it a try as I can visualise a number of themes to consider
and it will certainly make me much more conscious of my
natural environment.
I blog for three reasons. The first is that I like it, and that’s enough to keep me going. I blog about my life as a work-at-home writer and father of three (http://pinetreeparadise.blogspot.com/). We live in Argentina, far from my Southern California and my wife’s England. Pine Tree Paradise is evolving into a collection of anecdotes on living abroad and parenting, from the humorous to the grotesque and the sad. I’ve always written these tales in notebooks. I still do, and now follow through by editing them for the blog. And this leads to the second reason. The blog provides feedback on my writing; it is a place for experimenting. That’s helpful for my ambition to break into fiction and – the third reason – to diversify. I have a decent but inconsistent income as a freelance reporter. A school play? A holiday? Time off means no money. Hence the aim to diversify into passive revenue streams like ebooks marketed on my blogs. This would ease up time for my fiction and to land higher-paying gigs. It’s a long road – and a good shot to get that novel and collection of short stories published… or e-published.
I am a writer. I write to find out what I want to say and like a two year old who has just discovered her voice and language, I can’t seem to stop once I get started.
I enjoy blogging. I get a platform that allows me to share the things I learn with others. I find that each new experience suggests another blog to me. I suspect that I will become one of those serial bloggers someday who has to start selling off her blogs because she just can’t keep up with them all.
I derive a lot of personal satisfaction from my blogs. I like that I can show anyone with a computer a sample of my work. “Am I writer? You betcha, look right here.” Through my blog I meet people all over the world who respect me and my opinion because of the platform I have developed. I know I am making a difference in the world.
These days as I am trying to make a living as a writer, blogging has become a professional calling card of sorts. My blog showcases my writing talents and demonstrates to potential clients what a blog can do for their business.
Some people are making a living with their blogs. I know with your guidance, Angela, I will be one of those people.