A lot of you who read my site don’t blog so this doesn’t apply as much. Those of you who do, Check out MMP and see her post about why we blog. Here is an excerpt:

I would welcome an open discussion on this topic. I personally think that it totally depends on the individual. I have identified the following five reasons that people blog:

1. Cathartic (C) – the need to share experiences.
2. Altruistic (A) – a way to disseminate valuable information (valuable in the mind of the blogger. Whether it is actually valuable has no real bearing for this discussion) that needs to be put out their.
3. Validation (V) – I have changed my definition from “Blogging is their life; without it they would not have a way to validate themselves” to “to feel valued as a person, or feel that his or her ideas, opinions or creativity are worthwhile.” My first stab at validation was, according to Baba Doodlius, “way over the top,” for which I have to agree.
4. Earnings (E) – A way to make money. (Again, whether blogging actually can make money has no bearing on this conversation.)
5. Strength (S) – Blogging gives all types of people: strong, weak, extroverts, introverts, etc. a voice by which they can possibly effect change. This may be closely aligned with Altruism and Validation; however, I feel that it needs a category by itself.

And here are my answers.
C= 17- I blog because I am frequently incensed at SOMETHING. Anything around me. American Politics, our education system- in which my wife works, or any of a a number of things. I’ve found that standing in the middle of a park screaming “Do you NEED a V8, you prick?!?!” doesn’t go over well. So I blog to burn some of that up.
A= 9 I don’t know if I like the word “altruistic” for it. It’s more for me. My family is fairly scattered and I actually began blogging to keep in touch better with them. Sounds altruistic until you realize that I was simply too lazy to actually call mom, dad, brother, grandfolks, etc so I just throw it out there and see if they grab on.
V= 3 Being an astonishingly self-assured person, I don’t seek much validation outside my wife and close friends. That and my blog has rarely if ever gotten many comments and it hasn’t slowed me down.
E= 4 Someday I’d like to earn money off my writing but not off my blog. So I suppose we could look at blogging as practice. But I have no desire to earn money off it.
S= I think I’m on the fence here. Part of me wants to give it another seventeen. Part of me wants to give it a two. I’ve always said that if you have the time and energy to complain about something, you have the time and energy to change it. I don’t think of my blog as activism and if something is within my realm of influence, I would much prefer DOING something than blogging about it.

So… what do you people think? Why do you blog? For that matter, why do you read mine?

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