Thursday, October 23, 2008

Into The Void

Writing is a very solitary endeavor. You sit in a room, with a computer (or pen & paper), and write. No one else is necessary. Other aspects of writing are also solitary. Like figuring out which publisher to query and sending them a letter to test their interest. You then sit at home, wondering when (or if) you'll hear back. I used to run an email newsletter. Every month I'd send that newsletter to dozens of people and hear... silence. No one ever wrote back saying they appreciated the work I put into it. No one gave feedback, kudos or complaints, so I could alternately feel good about myself or improve the newsletter. Did anyone get the newsletter and read it? Or did they simply delete it when it arrived?

Blogging is much the same. I write a post and send it into the void... wondering if it will be read, wondering if anyone is out there at all...

My blog has a counter on it so I can see how many people visit the site. But what does that mean? Do they read through my posts? Are they interested in my life and writings? Are they just passing through looking for some specific piece of information they thought might be found here and isn't? When no one leaves comments how can you tell?

That's why having blogging buddies is so important. You know at leas ONE person has read your post, and maybe put a comment up. Or perhaps they bring it up the next time you chat. At least you know the VOID that is the internet does contain at least one other human being. Or rather, one human being who is interested in your life and thoughts.

So I will cast this post into the void and wonder, if a blog is written and no reads it, does it exist?

Writing's a very solitary endeavor. But that doesn't mean it has to be a lonely one. :P :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The void is teeming with interested readers... like me. :)

Excalibur Chicken said...

And me! See? If you write interesting and informative material, people are sure to read it.:)

Anonymous said...

blogging buddies...:) and real life buddies, too! just living really far apart right now!

Jessica Strider said...

Thanks for leaving comments. It's nice to know people are interested in what I'm writing. :D

Anonymous said...

me too.
it's just that i have to go 'show results' now by cleaning house or we won't have any christmas decorations up this year- and then how would i spend the post chr. holidays if there were none to take down?- Karin