Posted by : Shawn in (Blogging)
#1 - Why I blog
Idea #1 from 101 blog ideas for us pastor/geek/blogger types on Bruce’s blog.
I began to blog in the summer of 1999. This was before we knew what a blog was. Here is the opening page of the Shawn Chronicles. The actual entries have been corrupted somehow, most likely by internet gnomes or nargles. At that point I blogged completely to get an audience and have my pontifications heard. After that I was on LiveJournal ever so briefly and created another Wordpress blog entitled “If I Was Pope.” But once again, I started both of those mainly because I wanted people to listen to the Important(tm) things that I had to say.
Jump to this past couple of years. I started a podcast and the podcast led to a Web 2.0 Presby news site. Through this process I found myself reading and thinking about a hosts of issues and stories that hadn’t crossed my path before. And I really started getting into other people’s blogs, especially other pastors’ blogs. Somewhere around this time Bruce wrote a great post about why pastors should blog that made a lot of sense to me.
So I decided to give it another go but with some different reasons this time. I no longer write to be heard. My first reason for blogging is because I have thoughts/ideas/rants/etc. running through my head and this gives me a good way to process them and put my thoughts in order. So why a blog instead of a personal journal? Because conversation is good. My blog allows me to create and continue conversations with other people who I may or may not otherwise interact with.
While I am writing first for myself I am not writing only for myself. I hope I have something to offer others, even if it is just an occasional, insight, idea, or interesting link. I enjoy reading other people’s blogs and getting to know about them, what they think and what they do. So I don’t think it is a huge stretch to believe that there might be at least one person out there who has mild interest in what I have to say.
I’ve also been convinced that there are good professional reasons why pastors should blog. I believe it allows congregation members to know their pastor better and be seen as more of a real person rather than just a the guy in the funny dress on Sunday mornings.
In summary: Why do I blog?
- To process
- To share
- To dialog
- To pontificate (yes, I still want to be heard)
- To be more open
Great post. I just linked on the 101 list!
My blog (Discipline for Justice) is the first step in my writing process. My entries are raw and often passionate articles that I rip off late at night when the rest of my family is asleep. I really it do it for myself, but a few people do read it on a regular basis, and I get some good feedback every now and then.
My blog material gets refined and reshaped into my print newsletter, which I publish quarterly. Eventually, I plan to boil all of it down into a book or two.
Does anyone else use their blog as a rough draft for other forms of publication?
That’s what I plan on using my wiki for.
http://www.shawnwiki.com
:)