Attempting an answer......

This morning, Vee posed the question - "Has working at coming up with blog posts caused you to look at life differently?"

And it made me think a little. Well, a bit more than a little actually. Back when I started blogging, if I go back and look, I thought I was only talking to family and friends, which I was, but yet I still seem to have left a huge amount out. The stuff that was happening in my life back then. I also remember not really knowing how to go about this blogging business. Being shy. Worrying about whether I had anything valid to say. Hah. We all know that was ridiculous, because I seem to have plenty to say. I started writing. Now I talk. You get the difference? I talk now, knowing that there are people reading, because, even when the comments seem very thin on the ground, if I happen to check the site meter, loads of you are there, hidden away.

Back then, I knew very few people were reading.

I am a very relaxed blogger, I admit. If I have something to say or just want to write a little, I do so, and to be quite frank, I am not consumed with angst re the content. I get to decide. If I don't post for a few days, then that is also fine. If I think of something I want to discuss of great worth (a rarity), then I may jot down the subject now and then and perhaps develop my own thoughts on it before I spew out the words here.

However, in 90% of my posts, I simply sit down and chat. Like I would if you were sitting here too, helping me to finish off that raspberry cake which has migrated to the hips, despite the energetic aqua-zumba-ing. And sometimes, the conversation turns to deep subjects, and sometimes it hovers round the banal mark. Or gardens. Or dreams. Or bargains. Or whatever.

Has it changed the way I look at life? Well, it may have added another dimension. I think of my friends out there, and just know that something would appeal, or amuse you all. Or I need to rant so I do it here (think Dell). I file away thoughts to share some times.

But coming up with posts does not change the way I look at life, other then to maybe make me look a little closer at things.

The huge difference that blogging has made to all our lives, though, is the fact that we spend time writing out here in the big wide world. There has never been an opportunity to do this in history. Not from the comfort of our own sitting rooms, and for nothing. What did I do before I started blogging? Did I write to people? Not that much. Did I keep a diary? Well, at times, but sometimes I bore myself rigid. I probably spent more time talking to people in person. Or thinking. Or reading. Or doing stuff. Or ....

The blogging business has brought us all into contact with people we would never have known in our reality. Different cultures, traditions, opinions, religions, political persuasions, continents, hobbies, gifts....and so much more. It has enriched my life immeasurably. I have learned so much, which has changed my life. I have grown so much. I have learned when to shut up and when to speak out. Restraint does not come naturally to me!

I have learned how to crochet because of a blanket I saw on a blog. I have made cakes (think raspberries) because of a recipe on a blog. I have taken the blog and made it an integral part of me. Of my life. And, as I have said many time before, it can be a lonely life, and having contact with the big wide world 24 hours a day, should I need it, is a wonderful gift.

You see, I NEVER work at coming up with blog post ideas. And this is why I shy away from particular things on particular days. I don't want to have to follow a pattern. Though maybe joining in Wordless Wednesday may be a good idea. Silence from Linds one day a week may be regarded as a gift. But then, all you have to do is choose not to visit. This is a place where I wander about, and if you were here right now, you may be perched on the kitchen counter waiting for the kettle to boil, or hunting for a teaspoon, or something.

You know, I have just been outside thinking where this is going, and I want you to take a look at the list of most popular posts here. Over there on the side bar >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The most popular one is "A letter to my granddaughter". This was not a planned post. It was written from my heart, as I waited for Ann's labour to get to the stage where I needed to get in the car and go to be there when Missy was born. So much joy and love. Planned post? Absolutely not.

And then there is the one entitled "Answers" - more straight from the heart. Unplanned. And " Different Windows". Unplanned. There was one called "I go to the hills" - unplanned.

So not planning posts seems to resonate with you lovely people who pop in to visit. There is a great deal more I could say, actually. My mind has started whizzing.

So let's go back to the question - Has working at coming up with blog posts caused you to look at life differently? (My English teacher would have been horrified at the way I have strayed off subject here!) I have said that I don't work at ideas for posts, so we have covered that one - but blogging has made me look at life more carefully, perhaps. In more detail. And the working part - hah. Editing has taken on a starring role, of course. Pruning. Sometimes I let the words run away, and often I write things then never publish them. Don't we all?

Ah, I do love this little corner. I love the advent of the internet, and digital whatevers. Like the camera. I take many many more photos - blogging? Because I can? A bit of both. It is all about capturing the essence of a life. My life.

My answer is this then....BLOGGING has changed a great deal in my life. But working at ideas for posts? Not at all.

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