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There once was a blogger from away, who got paid to blog. She developed a large following, mostly because she wrote with enthusiasm and wit about many things that locals got jaded about, or no longer took the time to seek out. In fact, some of us thought she captured the unique qualities of the Pine Tree State better than many of us who have lived here forever.
People regularly visited her employer's site, people who ordinarily didn't give two sh*ts about most of the rest of the lame ass content at that site. As happens, the blogger got a new job and she was off to New Jersey, to discover new things about a brand new adopted state.
Much to the excitement of her readers (dare I say, fans?), the blogger began a new blog, which fanned the flames of anticipation for stories from the land of Tony Soprano, urban crime and the Meadowlands. At first, our former daily detour included us in those first early days, unpacking and setting up her new life in Jersey City—tales of journeys across the river, exploring the Big Apple, her new landlord and the first things of a new chapter, thus begun.
Our former online compatriot from away, no longer paid to blog as part of her job, grew tired, or found other things to do with the time she once spent blogging. If other former readers were like me, they continued to check her new blog, hoping to glean what new things she was learning in the new land to our south, told with her unique voice and self-deprecating way of seeing things. Unfortunately, despite posts insisting that she wouldn't forget us, the posts stopped. Oh, there was the recent one telling us that she was too busy, too tired, too whatever, to post even occasionally. C'est la vie, as they say.
It makes you appreciate those bloggers, who also spend their days in front of a computer for work, or even write for a living, who for whatever reason, find the time and the urgency to continue to share their thoughts. As a friend once told me, when I was growing weary of the blog—you've got to write for yourself first—if you can do that, more likely than not, you'll continue to crank out posts, frequently, or even semi-frequently. In my way of thinking that makes it more authentic and in line with "keeping it real."
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I wish I were more inclined to write "only for money"; that would certainly be a more practical way to approach things. But I realized, sometime ago when I still had ambitions of being "a writer" (and was getting published in print here and there, for what that was worth), that the money and market aspects just kind of ruined the writing for me. I didn't want that kind of pressure or concern to interfere with my writing; it made the writing feel too much like a job.
I recently wrote about how I would prefer to be paid for material to be included in an alternative magazine. That is true, especially now that I've been through some hard times. But I'm also hoping to arrange that payment for possible "reprints" from my blog, maybe to be chosen from a few things that I've already posted.
I have the feeling that if I ever got paid specifically to write in a blog, I wouldn't do it as well, or as prolifically. That probably sounds insane to most people, given the values of the present society. But for me, that's just the way it is...
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