It’s Monday and Dr. Tanya is back with her weekly Blogging Insights prompt. She provides us with a quote about blogging or writing and asks us to express our opinion about said quote.
This week’s quote is from Jorge Luis Borges, who was an Argentine short-story writer, and essayist. Here’s his quote:
“What I’m really concerned about is reaching one person.”
Before I started blogging on WordPress, I blogged on Blogger for a few years and then on Typepad for a few more years. Neither Blogger nor Typepad had a LIKE button and I rarely got any comments from any readers (if I had any readers) on either blog hosting site. It reminded me of that old saying about a tree falling in the woods and wondering if it made a sound if no one was around to hear it. Was it the same with my blog? Did it make a difference to me if nobody was around to read my posts?
As much as I would tell myself that I was blogging only for myself, I was secretly disappointed that no one was reading my brilliant, engaging, compelling, fascinating, witty, entertaining, and interesting posts. I rationalized that these non-readers were the ones who were missing out on something special and that was their loss, not mine.
Then I decided to see what WordPress was all about and started posting on the WordPress hosting site. I figured that, if the same thing happened on WordPress as had happened on Blogger and Typepad, the cosmos was sending me a three-strikes and you’re out message and that it was time to hang up my blogging spurs. (Sorry about these mixed metaphors.)
But guess what happened? I started getting notifications that people had “liked” my post. And some people even took the time to post a comment, and to start to follow my blog. And those likes and comments grew exponentially. In the 5 1/2 years I’ve been on WordPress, I’ve gotten approximately 785,000 views, 254,000 likes, and 116,000 comments (excluding my own).
So back to today’s quote. As a blogger, I would agree. Being able to reach out to people and to have them read and respond to my writing makes blogging so much more fulfilling and rewarding than writing in a vacuum. And so much better than writing like that proverbial falling tree in the woods, where no one is around to hear you make a sound.
This, That, and the Other 
Couldn’t agree more, Fandango.
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I like you ……….
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Yay!
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I wonder if blogging spurs would help . . .
I like the quote. I would say, you can’t please everybody, and you can’t worry about it. But to aspire to reach one person is good. As the Sundance Kid said to Butch Cassidy, aim for the middle–that way, if you miss, you’ll still hit something. Which a vaguely appropriate sentiment here, but close enough.
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I think when I started, it was about my recovery. It was good for me to be able to refer back, but I’m not sure anyone else would be interested. But now it’s good to feel part of a community. Everyone I follow offers me something.
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I read all of your posts, but I rarely comment. Not because of the quality of your posts, but because I haven’t anything interesting to offer in response. Like now. 😂
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Thanks for the interesting response. 😉 If I read a post and want to leave a comment, I will scan the other comments first, and if someone has already posted a comment that I would have said, I won’t leave a comment. I’m pleased to know that you do read my posts.
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I often wonder about those who read and leave no response. I’ve often found the search function on WP is atrocious
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A lot of functions on WordPress are atrocious.
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Some say they’re only blogging for themselves, but I don’t understand that POV. Why not just keep a diary in Word then? I blog to be read and when I hardly had any readers, it wasn’t much fun…
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I agree. I hardly had any readers on Blogger and Typepad, which is why I moved to WordPress.
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I guess blogging really is reaching out to others, otherwise as Paula says, you could just keep a diary or journal. I do get pleasure from the act of writing the post though.
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So do I. But having others read my post and appreciate it definitely adds to the pleasure.
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Oh yes, this is absolutely true.
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I found your metaphors most entertaining 😄
And yes, the interactive aspect of blogging on WordPress is the icing on the cake.
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I definitely agree with this quote. If I can connect to even just one person in my writing I feel I am doing something worthwhile.
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