Symptoms include: general malaise towards blogging, aversion to reading blogs, acute frustration at your own blog, random desire to change your blog's title, contemplation of blog suicide, "Is anyone even reading this?" syndrome, superblogger disdain, headache, dizziness. (Okay, I added headache and dizziness for good measure. They just seem to be in every list of symptoms and side effects.)
I suspect most everyone goes through this. In fact, most everyone writes a post about it at one point or another. I think it might be part of a larger social media syndrome. Clearly I've also become frustrated with Facebook as of late. I think sometimes we just put so much of ourselves out there in various online formats that eventually we're drained. And while the generation ahead of us might say "If it hurts, stop doing it", it's not quite that easy. I've made new friends and maintained existing friends due largely in part to blogging / Facebook / Twitter, etc. It's a way to connect that works for me, even if I hit the occasional pothole.
Nevertheless, Savannah and I moped about our Blog Flu. We talked about our symptoms. Some are the same, others aren't. We must have different strains. Still, the more we talked, the more confident I felt that Blog Flu was like any other strain; eventually it will run its course. But often not before some icky stuff comes out of you.
Get your Germ-X handy because I'm about to sneeze my icky stuff on you. *AAA-CHOOO*
I love to write. I think best when I'm writing. I have a lot of opinions and impressions of the world and I like sharing them. This blog seems like a good place to do that. I hope that the way I write is representative of who I am. If what's on my mind that day is pants that don't fit or how much I dislike goats, that's what I'm going to write about. I like to discuss movies I watched. I was texting Bachelor and Dancing With The Stars commentary to my dear, long-suffering BFF, so putting it on here seemed like a natural move. Basically, when you're here, you're sitting in on my therapy session. If you don't "get me", that's fine. If you're looking for a brand or a theme, you probably won't find it here. I don't expect this blog to lead to a book deal or an appearance on TV. Unless you were here to offer me those things. In which case, I take it back. If someone's blog pays their bills or springboards them into larger endeavors, that's great for them. I just don't write with that goal in mind. I might do a giveaway or a product review every now and then, but again, that's not my purpose here.
My main objectives are to share and to connect. I put my thoughts out there. I like it when people feel compelled to comment back. At the same time, I don't view comments and stats as "score-keeping". I find it interesting what people do and don't respond to, but I don't feel like I've failed if something doesn't get a lot of attention. It's important to me to interact. If you take the time to leave me a comment, I try to reply unless it was completely rhetorical or there wasn't really anything productive to add. I choose blogs to read not because I have everything in common with the author but because I enjoy their point of view, even if it's something I can't relate to (see also: baby poop). I don't know why people read what I write, but I hope it's for similar reasons. I don't fully understand the popularity of "superbloggers". I mean, I enjoy some of their content but I rarely leave a comment. If they already have 1000+ comments, I have a hard time believing mine won't just get lost in the crowd. Or, if I do comment, it's because I've seen an author who engages with readers, not just has a one-sided conversation.
Bottom line: I might get a touch of the Blog Flu every now and then and wonder why I'm doing this, but I like it. That's all. If I stop liking it and it starts to be a chore, I'll stop doing it. If reading my stuff feels like a chore to you, take me out of your reader. It's okay. I'm going to keep doing my thing. It's a big blogosphere and there's room for all of us. We can be awesome for different reasons.
Now, I find you should feed a Blog Flu instead of starving it. Who's got a candy bar?
