-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Words of Light: Grace & Truth for Your Journey Home
Five things that I have learned while blogging this year:
Writers of all types post on blogs because they want to get read, want feed back, want connection with people. In exchange, they are expected to read, like, post comments and follow bloggers to build a cyber community around themselves.
Although my online community is bigger then what I was aiming for, I came away with the realization that I don’t need this community. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing feedback from people. I have learned much from reading your blogs, and I am happy if I can help someone else, too. However, blogging has given me more appreciation for the fresh-and-blood community around me.
The comments that mean just as much or more to me are not posted on my blog. They come from the school moms, former bosses, family members, former school friends etc. that take time to read what I say. I am incredibly grateful that they take time to read my voice.
To blog well and invest in community takes much time. Time is spent writing, reading, and promoting. I have had to choose to spend less time on blogging then I could, simply because there are other things that are more important such as God, family, students, and friends.
The hype of this internet age calls me to promote my online presence. Become bigger and better that you can get more followers, more traffic, more loneliness? I have learned that more important then having a stellar online presence is being present for the people God has placed around me.
Likes are cheap.
How quickly can we click that like button without actually reading a piece and letting it sink into our souls? This was driven home to me when I noticed in my stats that I had more likes then views on a post. People had liked my photo in passing, but hadn’t taken time to read what I had written.
I choose to be genuine. Aside from photography bloggers, you can know that if I like your post, it is because I have read it and found it inspiring. Do me a favour, and only like mine if you really mean it.
travelight94 
Conversation