Blogging is one big mystery to people who don't blog. If you blog you hear these types of comments "what's a blog" or "isn't that when you talk about yourself a lot?" or "I am much too busy to read those all day" or "it seems so narcissistic" or "I guess you need to express yourself somehow". I can only speak for myself but after blogging for one whole year, almost 200 posts, I want to tell you this................pay absolutely no attention to any mysterious remarks about blogging. In fact, just let it be, smile to yourself, and if need be just keep this delicious blogging secret to yourself for now. Continue blogging until your heart is content. If you have words to say, say them and someone here will hear you.
This is what I now think about blogging. It doesn't matter if it is a small blog, a boring blog, a big blog, a popular blog, it matters that you express yourself and find those people who hear your words. Isn't that the point of it?......to have our words heard, to know that we are not alone, we aren't as strange as we thought? The world is a small and large place at the same time. In your smaller world you can be surrounded by people who know you well, but can't possibly hear every word you have inside. This might not be intentional, it can simply be that you speak a different language, you need to seek out other conversations from time to time. To some, blogging can be a huge waste of time, a sign our world is becoming one continuous loop of social media, one more way of distancing ourselves. I beg to differ, I have never felt more connected to a continuous thread of women who speak my language, who inspire me, who hear me and for that reason I smile to myself a lot these days. 
I admire creative women of all expression. I also feel a kinship with them because I think the creative world can sometimes be a lonely one. That seems like a strange thing to say but creativity is so personal, so subjective that the chances of finding other people who speak the same language within our smaller world is quite unlikely. The challenge with creativity is not only does it need to be expressed but it needs to be shared........to grow, to develop, to blossom. You hearing me? To read or write a blog doesn't mean you don't have real "live" friends, I think it simply means you want more of them. 
When you blog, there are circles and circles of support and understanding that surround you if you open a sincere heart to it. I am immensely grateful for the second time in one week, I admire and adore the women I have met in the past year through blogging. You know who you are, you are fellow bloggers, readers, followers, subscribers, emailers that have touched my heart in no small way. It matters not that I have not met any of you personally, that I could pass you on the street, that you are on the other side of the world. I want you to know.......I hear you each and every one of you. I am a blogger and I love my new friends.
All photos via Flickr
