Who Am I, And Why Am I Here?

I decided to participate in WordPress’s Zero to Hero 30 day blog improvement challenge, in the hopes of freshening up my purpose here.

I’ve been blogging for quite a few years, and once in a while I just think you have to move the furniture around, take the rugs out, hang them on the line and beat the bejiggers out of them. Am I right?

What I’d like to do is formulate an “About Me” page that gives readers, new ones as well as loyal ones, and me too for that matter – context as to what this blog is all about, and basically why they should spend their time reading it.

I need to drill down and focus on what my ideas are for what I write about, and what I hope to accomplish with my writing. I’ve often toyed with writing a mission statement for this blog, or some kind of list of goals and aspirations…. a Manifesto maybe. This is by no means that finished product, but rather a beginning.

• So, why do you write a blog, as opposed to say keeping a journal or diary?  I think it is because I need attention, or justification, or some kind of feedback, or – ok I’ll just say it – gratification… Immediate gratification whenever possible.
• OK, then what kind of things do you write about?  Is there a theme here? I’d like to think that I write stories about things I experience.  Not necessarily just things that happen, but about interesting people, insights, and morals of the story.
• So who reads this blog anyway? I am very happy to have connected with a number of intersected circles of people through this blog.  I seem to have attracted mostly women of a certain vintage – boomers; and fellow bloggers/writers. I’m content with this audience, because there is a comfort level here, as well as the very present opportunity to learn from and be inspired by our interaction.
• Does this blog have a goal?  The one goal I have for this blog, and by this blog I mean me – is to make a concerted effort to interact more, by reading and leaving comments on posts I’ve visited.  This has always been a stumbling block for me.  It takes an concerted effort and no small amount of time to visit and read posts of the blogs I enjoy. It also takes an effort to comment though whatever security is set up on each individual site. Then there’s always the threat of falling down the rabbit hole of other blogs linked from one site to another!
• What do you get out of writing this blog?  I think, when all is said and done, the greatest thing about blogging is how not only the platform, but the persona of who you are evolves. What I thought last year was different than what I thought when I started this blog way back when; and what I think now, is different than what I thought last year. I guess I just need to build in the expectation for improvement, and chagllnge.

At the end of this thirty days, I hope to have a new “About Me” and/or “About This Blog” page.  As always, I’m open to suggestions, criticism, praise, and whatever comments anyone cares to leave!