is blogging worth it? : Damyanti Biswas

A huge thanks to Natasha for inviting me to her blog on the week she completes two years on Natasha Musing.

Lately, a lot of bloggers have begun to feel a sense of hopelessness at the direction the blogiverse is taking: more paid posts, more reciprocal exchanges of comments and social media sharing, more appearance than reality, more conflict than community.

I disagree.

Despite having blogged for more than a decade, I feel like a bit of a fraud: my blog has run this long solely due to the kindness of strangers: folks who do not know me in real life, but drop by often to offer solace, wisdom, encouragement whenever I need them.

And I need them often.

Different bloggers bring different approaches to the table:

1. Those who blog professionally, earning their bread and butter through their blog.

2. Those who use the blog as a medium of personal expression

3. Those who find a sense of community in blogging

Personally, I tend to hover between 2 and 3. I write the occasional fiction on my blog or talk about the causes close to my heart, but the biggest part of my story as a blogger is the sense of community I find in the blog world. We talk, post long comments, and know each others’ views on things that matter. We form tribes of our kind.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been on a visit to India, and met a bunch of sterling bloggers in the cities I’ve visited. Each blogger has his or her own quirks, I’ve met more female bloggers than male. Most bloggers I’ve met are also committed readers and writers. The one thing they all have in common is their warmth and generosity.

It was an absolute joy to meet these talented bloggers, including the stunning and insightful Natasha, herself.

To add to this, a family of blogger friends, including Natasha, have come together to support the cause I’m raising funds for: the Project Why Sewing Circle. So many of my blog friends have sent in money, others have shared it on social media, yet others have actually helped me set it up. Read their story here.

So blogging may be ‘on its way out’, it may be ‘only for the professionals,’ or ‘too time-consuming.’

If you want the most sterling online family though, you can’t do better than blogging.

What about you? Why do you blog? What’s your blog about? Would you like to suggest a few blogs I should follow, new friends I’d enjoy reading? Leave it all in the comments.

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Damyanti is an author, blogger, reader. She helps edit the Forge Literary Magazine, and her work is represented by Ed Wilson at the Johnson & Alcock literary agency. When not nose-deep in a book, you can find her pottering about her garden, advocating for a cause, or baking up a storm. She blogs at Daily (w)rite.

 

This guest post has been written as part of my Second Blogiversay celebrations that started yesterday. NatashaMusing turns two this week, 6 December, 2018.

A bunch of erudite bloggers are joining me in this week long celebration with posts on my favourite genres: Musings, Photography/Art, Travel, Well-Being and Fiction. Mark the following days on your calendar and hop in to catch these soulful blog posts.