Of course, but why?

I was reading an interesting post by Richard Querin on Renaissance Man titled “Improving the space…” that kindly referenced a previous post I had made to a piece by Kent Newsome concerning blogging. One of Richards well stated points (#7) was that he had noticed a theme of building successful readership in all the related post:

Something else I’ve noticed in Kent’s, OmegaMom‘s and Earls posts about this topic is that there is a theme of building successful readership. This is not a bad thing. One of my other hang-ups has been my reluctance to overtly try to build readership. Growing readership is a good thing, but not necessarily the primary measure of success for me (and I’m not implying that it’s the primary measure for Kent, Earl or Omegamom). I’ve said before that I love the fact that anybody at all reads what I write, but I don’t want it to shape what I write about, or how I write it. That said, I’d like to do more to encourage readership. I’m all too happy to wallow in mediocrity.

For myself I would have to say you’re absolutely right Richard, I do hope to build successful readership, and thanks for giving me pause to ponder why.

First, I’m not in this to make money, so that can be taken out of the mix. That’s not where I want to go with this.

I write mainly for myself. Before I put words to screen I spend time reading, researching, and contemplating, the subject I intend to write about. Then I may organize, reorganize, and edit, many times. The hardest part often is reaching a point where I feel I can stop making changes. I believe this process is beneficial to me. It’s a process that bleeds over into other areas of my life. I’m working to become a better writer (got a lot of room for improvement here), and I’m improving my logical thought processing skills..putting a sharp edge on the sword, so to speak. Then there’s the personal gratification. When I finish a post that I’m satisfied with I have a feeling of “job well done”. My opinions about the subject could well change later, but that’s okay. Each post is a part of me and I take full ownership and responsibility.

Now where does readership come into this? I don’t want my blogging process to take place in a vacuum. I want and respect others opinions or else I would record all of this in a private journal. I also want to feel that maybe my voice was heard. My ego hopes that the subjects I think are important or interesting are relevant to at least a few other people on this planet. When someone leaves me a comment or links to me I feel I’ve accomplished that. It may be part of my own sense of mortality. When posting I’m not concerned about popular opinion. People can love to read you even if they’re certain you’re dead wrong and bound to self-destruct. With different viewpoints comes opportunity for growth. I welcome this.

What’s the amount of readership I’m hoping for? I couldn’t even begin to tell you.

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