Konnichiwa, Mikuites! I was wondering, why do we blog: is it for the fame, fortune, or just for fun?
While I would love to make millions just sitting at the computer in my pajamas writing about my favorite thing in the world, it’s not really plausible (yet). The reason I started my blog is because it was always been my dream to have my own personal website –– simply because I have so many things on my mind to talk about and share with the world.
As much as I enjoy writing and plan to pursue my ambition of being an author, my first few weeks of blogging were intimidating. It was hard because I didn’t really know what to blog about, and I didn’t know who my audience was. I think every blogger remembers their very first post and how different it is compared to the way they blog today. What I’ve discovered, though, is that the more I’ve blogged the more I’ve come to enjoy it!
This is mainly because anime is no longer a solo experience for me. When I watch an anime, I can share my thoughts about it on the web and read other people’s reactions as well. One of the benefits about blogging is that along my journey I’ve met people, just like myself, who love watching and writing about anime! ^^ And who knew there were so many out there? In an era where Twitter and Facebook dominate, it’s nice to see that there are still people who voice their opinions in paragraphs, not characters.
But like anyone else, sometimes I have my hard days too, and it might not have anything at all to do with blogging (I’m talking about IRL problems). One day I wondered to myself, why do I keep on blogging? What keeps me going? That’s when it hit me: Like Mio from K-ON!, I’ve gained my own fan base. It’s really humbling to think that every day, every hour, there are people all over the world visiting my blog to read my latest opinions.
So, that’s what keeps me going…you, Mikuites! While writing has and always will be a fun experience for me, the reason I write is for you guys. The days when I feel lazy, I think to myself: if I weren’t to write a new post today, how many people would miss out? That’s when I get my sleepy ass out of the bed and start typing away.
I know some of you have had a blog much longer than I have. So, what was the reason you first started blogging? And what persuades you to keep going on?
I do not have a blog from much time (only almost 2 months), but my main reasons were two :
1) Give a service to users as finding quality wallpapers out there is a great mess.
2) Have some fun time writing reviews/impressions/ramblings about the series I like.
Make millions through blogging? Possible, but I really don’t care.
I have a day-time job, and I put up an “advertise here” page just to test if it’s feasible to make the website self-sufficient as server and bandwidth doesn’t fall from skies, but if no good offer arrive I’ll just continue to pay myself for my hobby. :P
P.S. Did you got my email some hours ago? :P
It seems that blogging is a hobby that writers like ourselves took up for means of enjoyment (I mean, why else would we dedicate so much of our time to it?). As you mentioned, it also feels like a service — a way to give back and interact with the fans, so to speak.
Personally, after retiring from my anime club, I feel pleasure in being part of a large anime community once again!
And yes, I added you. ^_^
You’re so lucky to have something cool to greet your readers with…”Mikuites”. I wish I had thought of something like that. Konichiwa, Razorites!…No…Razorans!…This is hopeless…
Coming to the post, I love it ^^ ! I was sold when I read this: In an era where Twitter and Facebook dominate, it’s nice to see that there are still people who voice their opinions in paragraphs, not characters.
I’ve been blogging for only about 3 months now. So, I can’t really comment on my “experience”. Probably reply to this post with full details 9 months from now.
As for what persuades me to keep going well… I just want to. Can’t exactly say why. I know there’s little to no money in this area, so I guess it’s just love of the game and wanting to get into a community where there are people like you and you feel at home. Having your own blog makes you feel like a party host – it’s a lot of stuff to put together intially, slightly nervous during the party but a completely rewarding experience when you see the guests smiling and enjoying themselves. It’s satisfaction that me (and most anime bloggers) strive for.
I’ve been blogging on and off for four months now. It’s horrible of me to be inconsistent, I know.
More than the actual fear of writing a post thats 1) late, 2) unsophisticated, and 3) controversial, it’s very hard to find time in my university schedule to actually focus on anything for a time. Heck, I haven’t even watched most of last week’s anime, and we’re getting a new pile this Thursday…
It’s pretty easy. When I started, no one was really fully focused on what I was passionate about so I decided that needed to be changed. To my surprise, people actually took a liking to my material so here I am, writing more about music and will most likely continue doing so until someone can come up with a better anime music blog.
Having a blog helps me to concentrate on my work, and although it would be nice to make millions from it, that probably isn’t going to happen.
I blog because, like you, I think it’s fun to share my opinions and I enjoy others reading what I write. I first started blogging on a forum I frequent and I received positive feedback from the readers. Eventually I decided I wanted to take it a bit further and start up a blog on a full fledged site. I knew I couldn’t keep up enough activity by myself so I decided to recruit other writers to help out.
We get a decent amount of views but sadly we don’t many comments which is a little discouraging but still as long as I know people are indeed reading it I guess it’s fine. After writing for over a year I have hit a bit of a rough patch >.< it's getting hard to think of stuff to write about (thank god for the other writers).
I don’t have anything set I write about — just whatever strikes my fancy. If you’ve been following my blog for the last month or so, you’ve probably noticed I’m quite impulsive when it comes to writing. XD
OT, but I just had an amazingly detailed and long dream. I joined an anime club, became really friends with the people there and did all sorta things with them. For a while, I thought you were with us, but always out sick or too busy to be there. It’s almost as if it wasn’t a dream, but instead, something that is actually happening, something that is perhaps beyond sight in this universe or in a different universe; for the first time in a long time, I felt elated to be a part of something like a group. When I woke up, I was a little disappointed, but somehow I know it just wasn’t fictional. Why you no be at anime club?
That’s interesting. I think the high school club I used to run is still functioning. Sometimes I want to go back, but I’m way too old now, and no would recognize me. ^^;
It became natural for me. At first I blogged as a form of writing an diary, then soon I wrote my opinions on anime, and when I finally got readers, I moved to writing about anime full-time. It’s fun to me. And it’s fun to see comments too. It’s like joining a community. It’s an all-round good experience.
My reasons for starting a blog and the reasons for continuing blogging today have differed slightly over time. When I first started, like you, I just wanted a place to put my thoughts and share my mind. Now, with that, there’s also a sense of responsibility. My blog has become a little pet project. There’s also a sense of responsibility to the readers too.
I have days I get lazy too though, but I usually just stay in bed then. Haha.
Anyway, very relatable post. ^ ^
Quite a good post here. This reminded me of why I still continue to blog despite not wanting/aiming to gain popularity on the internet. Well, anyone of us can join anime forums and discussions or commenting other people’s posts but I guess, it really is different when you have a blog; a place where you’re the boss, the editor, and the reporter of the news you like to publish… heh… this post inspires me to create my own article about the topic but i’ll leave that thought during the weekends. thanks though :D
or not… your post is so thought-provoking that I couldn’t help myself :D
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I had several reasons for starting up a blog: (1) my friends had “grown out” of anime so it provided an outlet for me to share my thoughts with others, (2) I was bored one day and was looking for something to do, and (3) I heard people could make money blogging.
Well, I’ve almost given up on the third point, but I’m still glad that I started blogging. If it weren’t for this activity, I would not have met so many people who share the same interests as me. While sometimes negative feedback to my posts gets me down, overall I’ve been happy to read what others have to say about my thoughts.
Your 3 points are similar to mine. ^_^
No readers –> No motivation to write –> No readers –> Infinite downward spiral ^^”
I don’t really know which direction to take the blog, so I mostly post random stuff. And since I’m lazy I end up not updating for long stretches of time *-*
I’m pretty random myself, but I would recommend focusing on one topic…or one subject I should say. And if you want readers, you should probably go visit other blogs. If you read their blog, chances are they’ll read yours. ^^
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