Friday, March 26, 2010

An Apology to My Blog

Hi, blog. I know it's been a while. Again. For that, I am sorry.
I know, I know, I've been off on other sites while you've just sat here, on this URL, waiting. Waiting, hoping, that I might one day return to you.
So, you might be asking yourself, what other mistresses have been vying for my attention? To be honest, it's the more addictive addition to the online world, Twitter. I really don't know what I'm doing. Somehow, I find myself textually communicating with cyberspace from my phone in less than 140 characters rather than logging into you and giving you the well deserved sentence structure you so desperately need. Sometimes on Twitter, by stroke of luck, or by someone's pity, I gain a follower or two. I get to see that people enjoy what I have to say so much that they want to know every time I say something. A lot of the time, I find myself wondering, 'Who is this person who wants to follow me?' but, it is a wonderful feeling, blog.
With you, it used to be so simple. People could respond with ease and I'd smile when I got comments, but with Twitter, the popularity contest is almost unbearable. I mean, sure, it'll be a while before I get my first thousand followers, but all I can do is try, right? Don't think of this as a lost battle between you and Twitter. I am planning on publicizing your existence more in the future. Yes, even on Twitter.
Another contender has been YouTube. Sometimes, I'd think that a situation or idea would be humorous to type about but then I just end up filming it for almost the same reason as why Twitter is so addicting. The subscribers.
The numbers are there and society nowadays wants their entertainment easy, quick and visual if possible. That's why the allure of YouTube is so possible. But, in reality, do I really only want to gain subscribers who would rather watch me than read what I have to say? In all honesty, yes. Don't get me wrong, I love every one of my subscribers, but if someone offered to subscribe to me on YouTube but not read my blog posts, I would still like them to subscribe. Does that make me a bad person? No, it doesn't. But I am a bad person for thinking that anything I can post on you could be 'updated' into video format.
Honestly, here's my point. I miss you. I miss not having to worry about 140 characters, not having to take time to edit video, and I love to be able to type the way that I speak. I miss fine tuning the words until it sounds perfect; conversational, even. You understand me better than any 140 character site or video site ever will. You are substantive, blog. I mean that.
If it wasn't for you, I never would have tried NANOWRIMO this year and I wouldn't have been able to succeed. It's all because of what's been growing between me, you, and the other blogging generations that I've used in the past.
So, here's what I'm proposing. I promise you that I will blog more. I'll put the camera down, log off of Twitter, and give you the attention you deserve. We all go through phases. I won't give up on you, blog.