Cat's Corner

Whether or not creating and maintaining a blog would ultimately be worth it to you depends on what you are hoping to achieve by having one. There are literally millions of blogs out there that people use for as many purposes. Some people have one to help promote a service or product they offer. Others have them simply to express themselves, record the happenings of their daily life, and share what they write with their friends. Ultimately, the answer as to whether blogging is really for you depends completely on whether or not you really have something to say, a desire to share it with others, and an honest passion for expressing yourself through the written word.

Although this site is relatively new, I myself have been an active blogger for several years now, and it all started because I just wanted a space where I could express myself and record some of my thoughts. To be more specific, I was hoping the experience would help me to untangle some major uncertainties I was having about my life in general at the time. A friend of mine suggested opening a LiveJournal account, so I followed his advice and started blogging that same afternoon. I'd kept paper journals almost all my life prior to that, so I wasn't unfamiliar with self expression through writing. However, I found that an on-line journal was even easier for me to maintain, so I took to blogging quite naturally right from the start, and found that it really suited my purposes for considering it in the first place very well.

I never actually expected anyone else to want to read anything I wrote or give two straws about my thoughts on whatever subject, except possibly a couple of friends, but I liked the idea of leaving my blog public anyway. It sounds cheesy, but it made me feel more like my thoughts were really leaving my head, making writing them down an even more therapeutic process. However, to my great surprise, it turned out that people did want to read my journal, and they seemed to really like my writing style in general as well. To this day, I still don't know how people were even finding the thing, but find it they did.

It wasn't long before I suddenly had a decent-sized list of avid readers following this little journal account I'd originally opened for the sole purpose of getting a few thoughts out of my head. To say I was in shock would be an understatement. Previously, I'd never shown anything I'd written to anyone I didn't know, simply assuming they wouldn't be interested, so needless to say, that first blogging experience really changed my attitude toward my own writing. It was what convinced me to stop thinking of it as "just a hobby", and start thinking of it as something that might be worth really putting out there.

Making the decision to create a blog was definitely well worth it for me, because it started me on the road to developing the courage to share more of my writing, and eventually some of my visual artwork as well, with the rest of the world. As a result, I am now a professional freelance artist and writer. I have created, sold, and showcased many paintings and drawings, as well as written and published poetry, short stories, articles, and editorials. I've even written two novel-length manuscripts that I plan on publishing someday soon as well. I sincerely doubt I'd be where I am now, either creatively or professionally, if I hadn't made the decision to open up that first little LiveJournal account that wound up starting it all.

Blogging can be an excellent way of sharing your words with an audience, whether the audience itself is large or small. It can be done for simple purposes like my initial ones. It also can easily be grown and taken through many levels, if that's what you'd like. It can certainly be a very effective tool for marketing a business or sharing expertise. To this day, I still use blogging not only as a way to continue expressing myself, but as a major means of promotion for my artwork and my writing, and it pays off incredibly well.

Through a blog, you have the ability to reach people all over the world on any level you'd like, especially if you are willing to work hard to promote it and keep it entertaining. If you yourself have a reason to want to do that, why not start one of your own? I'm living proof that you honestly never know how far it may take you or what the experience might teach you about yourself.