So tonight I am not entirely in the mental frame of mine to do actually much. I am not going in details but rest assured it is one of those up and down things that eventually I will wrangle myself out of and move onwards from. Such is I fear life and with out the lower parts we would never be able to recognise what is truly wonderful in our life and what we can be grateful for and enjoy.
However there is still something in me that urges me to sit down and write. So tonight I was going to have a rather a mixed bag of topics. But having a bit of trouble getting going I started writing up the answer to the meme I found on plurk by Berry and an hour later I looked at my word counter and saw that I had written nearly a good fifteen hundred words, which I was rather amazed by. Normally my speed is roughly need about half that. For which I totally blame (okay and I am very grateful as well ) Strawberry Singh. *nods*
So I decided there and then that I was going to make this meme my blog-post for the evening and I am leaving the topics and questions for another night. So tonight you get the answer to fourteen questions about me and why I blog:
1) How long have you been blogging? My first post was on September 6, 2007. It seems ages ago now. For a while I blogged a lot about my second life experiences and mainly about my isolation roleplay that I was engaged in at the time. Then came an hiatus where I would not write in months. Then Mistress (having gone through my whole blog), asked me in February last year to start writing a blog every week, which I have (mostly) faithfully kept up.
2) Why did you start blogging? I think two reasons mostly. In part because I wanted to write about what I experienced, placed I went to, and because at the time I was suffering computer and Internet problems and blogging was easier on what I had than second life.
3) How many times a week do you post an entry? I keep it at about an entry a week, very occasionally I write more. I try to post during the night of Saturday / Sunday. I found that (and read) that having a regular posting schedule helps people who come to your blog. I also find it gives me a rhythm and that is kind of important for me as well.
4) How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis? At the moment I have about 66 blogs that I faithfully follow through an RSS Reader on my phone. I read them when I get notified that they get updated. But I also read a fair amount of blogs off the cuff because I notice them being mentioned on either IRC or Second Life or any of the social networks that I am part of, or because I run across them during a Google search. However in the latter case it’s just single posts I read.
5) Do you comment on other people’s blogs? Depending on the blog, content etc, yes I do. It also depends with what identity I reply to, a lot based on the subject and if i think I have something worth while to add, which is not a lot of the time.
6) Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Oh god yes. I really love when people click ‘like’ on my posts. Words can not describe that. I also look regularly at general visitors numbers and the search terms as well. Just because it gives me a reasonable idea what people are looking for, and I am not above writing to please my readers. But yes I am such a sucker for ratings.
7) Did you ever regret a post that you wrote? No, not really. I think that some of the posts perhaps I could have delved deeper into the issue or said more. But never regret. There is always a trade off in how much I write, how much time I have to write. Some of the subjects that I have written about (the collaring blog last week is a good example of this) I could write three books easily without even touching half what there is to say.
8) Do you think your readers have a true sense of who you are based on your blog? I have no idea. You should ask my readers this, not me. But I say this, I think they have a good understanding of certain facets of my personality. That which I choose to share or what shines through in what I write. Or at least, I hope so.
9) Do you blog under your real name? This blog is under my second life name. I have a blog under my real name which deals with some other content really but for that one really the mood to write fails. Although there are times I think about writing more there as well. Who knows, perhaps this writing malarkey is paying off.
10) Are there topics that you would never blog about? Yes quite a lot actually. I will most likely not reveal a lot about my personal life here, or I will not write about subjects I either know nothing about or have no interest in exploring. So I fear to disappoint you all but you will not see a blog post highlighting the intricacies of chicken farming
11) What is the theme/topic of your blog? My second life mostly, oh and my opinions, lots of my opinions. But as the subtitle of this blog says: It’s about my explorations, questions, wonderings, chaotic and usually confusing thoughts laid bare. I have done some fashion posts about new stuff that I bought, I publish my stories here and write about BDSM, a lot actually, and of course no blog would be complete without the occasional rant.
12) Do you have more than one blog? If so, why? Yes, I have. Just for second life I run two blogs really. This one and of course, the blog of the SubbieUnion. Although it is rather quiet there at the moment. But alas it is mine so it counts, even though there are plenty of guest writers. As for other blogs, I have one blog where I write very occasionally (read with all the regularity of a leap year) and which will remain undisclosed. Sorry, a girl got to have some privacy.
13) What have you found to be the benefits of blogging? Well apart from the rising stress levels, occasionally hair pulling, sweat, blood and tears pouring out in order to get words on paper, I guess I am getting slightly better and conquering my phobia of the white page/blank screen.
Okay, a slightly more serious note, the previous sentence was just to have a nice way into the next question. However, the benefits of blogging is that in some really perverse and masochistic way I do like to write. I found it easier at some points to write more. So in that sense blogging has rekindled my passion for writing a bit more.
14) So, why do you continue to blog? I think this question comes in line with the previous one. As I alluded in the introduction I did not feel like writing much tonight. Just one of those moments in time. But look at what happened I wrote a quite decent amount in response. This made me think of the blog I wrote in February, called “We do not write because we want to“, a shortened version of a quote by W. Somerset Maugham. The full quote being “We do not write because we want to, we write because we have to” and as I explored and danced around the topic that evening in February I came to the conclusion that yes, I write because I want but I also write because I have to. And I am not talking because I am under strict orders to produce a blog every week. That is just the proverbial stick behind the door. These are the conclusion of that fated blog;
What motivates me, despite not having much energy, despite not being able to come up with a topic or to be able to write eloquently about a preplanned topic, to sit down and write, freestyle admittedly, a decent amount of words and touch on the same subject twice without initially knowing it and realising that a statement I first dismissed turned out to hold a deeper value for me then I perceived in the first place. I guess the saying is true. I write, because I want to, partly because I have to and mostly after much introspection, because I have to.
And no, the above is not a typo, I meant what I said there. I guess that makes me by my own definition, more of a writer than I am willing to admit to myself. And that it its own right, is a both interest and a terrifying thought.
And that touches on my closing point. When I am done after a couple of hours pouring myself out, I look back at the words and I feel satisfied and happy. I am in a way proud of myself and what I have accomplished. Add to that seeing people like my words, seeing people return to my blog time and time again, fills me with a deep warmth and puts a smile on my face every single time. So perhaps this is the place to say:
Thank you my dear readers from the bottom of my heart.
With all my love,
lexi
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