Sharon, one of my favorite bloggers, has asked a really good question for her fellow blog-keepers:  how did you get your blogging start? 

For me, it was a pretty simple thing.  I happened across an ad on Craig’s List about a blog site for writers.  I have to admit, before I saw that ad, I didn’t have a particularly good impression of blogging.  I thought of it more as a place where people liked to post their day in, day out ponderings, or (worse) a place for a sort of soul-baring that was exposed for all the world to view.  Neither of those things was something I might want to do.  But the idea of a community of writers blogging together really appealed to me, so I popped by to check out the site advertised.

It turned out to be a very fun spot for me.  It is the place where I first met Sharon, as well as several other bloggers with whom I am still in contact, even though the site has been defunct for some time now.  There was a lot of good interaction, with fun challenges and games, and many thought-provoking articles.  Some of the bloggers there were very, very good writers.  Many were very thoughtful people who knew how to start and sustain a good conversation.

Ultimately, that site failed because it was a bit too inbred.  Well, perhaps I shouldn’t say failed.  It is now defunct, so that might appear to be a failure.  But at the same time, it was a good place to blog while it was there, and I think it was a first taste of blogging for many of us who still keep blogs today . 

After having gotten a feel for blogging at a community site, I tried my hand at blogging elsewhere.  I still maintain blogs at 2 different free blogging sites.  I’ve managed to generate a little income from them (it was a fairly substantial amount at one time, though I don’t try to maintain it at that level anymore).  Eventually, I decided I wanted to try blogging in my own name (instead of under a screen name), at a place where I could post articles for my students as well as entries of a more general interest.  That is how this particular blog came about.

I have introduced several other friends to blogging since I got started.  Some have really gotten into it, and others not so much.  For me, it is something I enjoy, both for the place to keep up with my writing, and as a place for interaction on whatever ideas interest me.  One way or another, it is probably something I will keep at, at least for a while longer.

What about you?  Where did you get your blogging start?

© 2008 Shelly Bryant