Maybe it's just me.
I've noticed a slight dip in readership and commenting in the last couple weeks or so. I don't know whether the entire blogosphere has hit a lull, or if it's just my blog. I admit, my desire to blog has slightly dipped in the last few days due to the fact that finals week is almost here.
But finals or not, I can't resist churning out a post or two each day. At the least, it helps me relax.
But like I said, maybe it's just me.
It always disappoints me a little bit to not get a comment or two on my posts. I put a good deal of time into each one, and I try to make them relatable. But it's nothing major. After all, it would take a lot more than that to stop me from blogging.
I'm sure we all like to get comments on our posts. Our blogs don't revolve around them, but they sure are fun to read. I love checking my email and seeing that I have a new comment waiting for me on one of my posts.
Anyways, after noticing I've been on a bit of a cold streak with comments on my posts, I asked myself a question that I'm sure we've all asked ourselves at one point or another.
Why do we write? I mean, blogging isn't a biological need or anything.
While it may not be a physical necessity, I've found that I really do need to blog on at least a semi-regular basis. It's become an emotional need, something to do with my free time besides sitting on the couch and going through the channels for the fiftieth time. (On a quick side note, I've found that it also helps polish my writing skills, since I didn't take an English class this semester for the first time in my school career. Another great, yet unexpected, benefit of blogging.)
It would pain me to be without blogging for more than a few days or so, a week at the most. I'm sure a lot of other bloggers feel the same way.
We all have our specific reasons for blogging on a fairly regular basis.
For one thing, I love sharing the "hidden gems" that make dime boxes so great. I love sharing the history behind each card I post, whether it's the history of how I obtained it, or simply the history of the player featured on the card. I love looking at baseball cards at a slightly different perspective than I did before, which is what blogging has forced me to do.
Just think, that Steve Kline card could have been lost forever within the dime box depths. But luckily I found it and gave it a good home. Now, it's across the entire internet for everyone to see.
It beats having it sit in some guy's garage for who knows how long.
A lot of our motivation to blog seems so different. But yet, the basis for all our blogs is the same.
We all love baseball cards. (Or football, basketball, or hockey cards, if that's your thing.)
We still get a kick out of those simple-looking rectangular pieces of cardboard. I'm sure some of the bloggers out there have collected for twice as long as I've been collecting. Yet we all still love the hobby through the good and bad, no matter where it takes us.
That's why we write.
16 comments:
My life is writing, so I understand this need. It is both physcial and emotional and everything else for me. And I'm glad to hear you feel that, too, and especially glad to hear you're honing your writing skills. That always makes a English teacher happy. For me, the blog offers me a break from the other writing I do, and I love to be able to just relax and focus on my hobby.
I've noticed the lull, too. That card is completely absurd. That's a reason to write, certainly.
My writing sucks or rather it's not my forte. I do love pictures so my blog has lot o them. Like you I love to share my finds. I sometimes go for days without a comment and wonder if anyone cares. Then someone will dig something I posted and I feel like it's worth the time. I'll also see someone from another country who spends an hour looking at a bunch of hockey cards or something I posted a year ago and feel like I haven't wasted my time. I'm determined to get to 365 days of birthday posts even though they can be very time consuming to put together.
I'm reading. Good luck with finals, Nick.
I write because I NEED to write. I've said that a few times. Baseball cards can take all the credit for that that it wants, but truthfully if I couldn't write about cards, I'd write about something else. And I do. Writing is my job, too. It is literally who I am.
I wouldn't sweat it too much. I've had posts that have had 300+ views and no comments and posts with 25 views and a dozen comments. Even if no one sees a word you post, write because you want to. That's the only way you're going to enjoy the experience.
Of course, 1000 hits per day readership is very cherry, yeah?
I re-entered the hobby within the last year or so and after following several blogs for months, decided to start my own just last month. I love that we all participate in essentially the same hobby, yet have so many different opinions and perspectives. Even when everybody and their moms did Gypsy Queen breaks, it was still interesting to see the posts on it. Keep up the good work.
Writing and commenting are sort of cyclical for me. Sometimes I feel like I have all these ideas and I can't write about all of them at once. Other times I stare at the keyboard and wonder what to write. As for commenting, it boils down to time. I do 90% of me blog reading from work. I have periods of down time so it's not a big deal. If a topic hits a nerve or just demands a comment, I'll take the time if I'm busy. If it's really slow, I'll comment on 30 or 40 posts. However, even if I don't comment, I still read almost every blog post that shows up on my dashboard.
I was obsessed with comments and hits and the number of followers I had at first, but I still write mostly for myself. If other people happen to enjoy it, that's a bonus.
As for that card, I'm sure whatever that kid did, he deserved it.
I love your birthday posts because I can tell they take a bit of time to do. I also recognize your pictures are all hi res pictures so that must mean an extra bit of your day to find those too. This reader likes them so I imagine there are many others who do, too.
As for my blog I'm not a wordsmith either. I tend to blog a post when it hits me. I've found when I do it out of a 'guilty' feeling for not posting more it makes it very unfun(yep, I said it)to blog.
As for comments on posts, everyone needs to realize if everyone commented on everyone's posts we would all go insane with the continued burden. I think we are all a little bit off, anyways. ;)
Blog a post when you want to and comment when you want to. Doing it out of some 'responsibility' tenet(?) can make you burn out.
I'm much more of a reader of everyone else's blogs. I follow over 350 blogs daily and read everyones new(and old)post daily. Just because I don't comment on most of your blogs(that would literally takes hours)doesn't mean i don't see what you took the time to put on e-paper.
Your customs are great to see as I'm a Cubs guy.
I had 27 views on one post(my first one) and thought cool. But then I realized if you are doing this for post viewss then you're in the wrong game.
I don't even look at my blog's stats. It's like Reddit karma, it means squat.
Hey Nick, I've been reading your blog for a few months now but have never commented. Do you at least get to see how many views or traffic each blog post gets? You definetly have the most interesting reads I've seen so far. What stands out is your personal emotion towards the cards. You are not not naive yet not jaded by the card industry either.
Hey Chase, first off, thanks for reading the blog!
Secondly, I do get to see the traffic on the blog. I admit, I look at it a few times a day. The traffic/commenting isn't anything I'm overly worried about, but I get a huge kick out of seeing which posts get more views than others, and possibly think about why that is.
Thanks for the kind comments as well, glad you're liking the posts!
Thanks for the encouragement, Cory. Always much appreciated.
Yeah I wanted to add earlier but didn't have time that after coming across your blog and reading a good chunk of it, I now look at and appreciate my cards more carefully instead of just rifling through them and organizing them to look at again at a later date. I am more about the cards than the autos/jerseys/patches etc. I am a sucker for parallels however lol. Keep up the great work I look forward to every post.
I write for many reasons. I'll recap a win just to revel in it or write about the past to forget what happened. I find that I am informed more than I inform. Having a card of an obscure player will lead me to investigate them and find out pretty cool things about them, such as in the cases of Stan Jefferson or Jorge Velandia, for example. I'm not in it for the hits or comments but do get a kick whenever a Trevor Hoffman or Bip Roberts tosses their fans a link to something I've written; it's a very innocent, childlike thrill.
I also love writing. I started blogging because I used to be good at it in school, but I haven't had the opportunity in the last few years to pick it up again.
I have gotten literally ZERO comments on my blog (thejuniorjunkie.blogpot.com), which as of now is 5 posts long with another half-written but psotponed due to the holidays. I continue to write it because I've really enjoyed it. Also, I have NOBODY to talk about card collecting with where i live, so I guess blogging is my outlet. Still, yours is a good one!
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