Follow the Fashion

It seems to me that every one is blogging. I once hated to read those self-indulgent bloggs.

But things started to change after I began to read a few friends’ blogs recently. It is fun to know what they are doing, and what are going on in their heads.

One of the things I read today and really touched me is a blogger writing about the 15 things she has learned from blogging for almost two years.

"Since I started blogging I've realized how much I need to write. It helps me figure things out. It puts me in touch with my thoughts. It freezes moments and lets me savor them. I get crabby if I don't write, and fidgety if I don't write for a couple of days. I'm annoyed if I get interrupted while I'm writing. Writing makes me notice the world -- I look at something and think about how I would describe it -- is it green? brown? the color of mud? the color of moss? Is it opaque? I look harder at things, I see them more clearly, because I have the habit of writing. I like what it does for my outlook… I have a fair amount of emotional baggage about writing. Blogging is an easy way for it to be part of my life. I feel sheepish and embarrassed about saying that, because of course blogging isn't real writing… It's completely self-indulgent. This blog for me is a writing practice, like a yoga practice, that limbers me up and makes me feel at ease. The gimmicks I do here -- All Requests or Google Day posts -- are not only kind of fun ways to relate to my audience, but also writing assignments. Drills. I like trying to write about something that wasn't my idea, and having to figure out my angle on the subject and how to make it mine”…

I feel mostly the similar thing about writing, but cannot express as well as she does.

Actually I have been keeping journals since middle school. Whenever I read the old-day scribbling, I feel lucky that I kept a record of my emotions. It was fun to write, and funnier to read years after.

That people enjoy writing journals is probably because it is more like talking to oneself than writing for reading.

Then it’s not surprising that people, many people, start blogging their thoughts online, rather than keep to themselves, since talking to other people is definitely more interesting than speaking to oneself.

Therefore, I am going to follow the fashion, and keep talking to myself, and hopefully to known & unkown friends.