As others have said, I only bother with blogs which include specialist info of interest to me, and I don't even read those regularly - only when someone points out an interesting post.

Most blogs are like drying paint.

My facebook status is the most blogging I am prepared to do about myself! Sometimes it's about me, and sometimes it's not (eg, political) and starts interesting discussions. I have no wish to write a dull diary and show it to the world.

Deb

I think the power of the big important thing the author really really wants to say is sometimes overrated. It can still fall exceedingly flat, as in those round robin letters which tell us that it was an exciting year for the Smith family. Roger scaled Mount Everest in the nude and our 5-year-old daughter Lucy sailed round the world blindfold on a packing crate. Meanwhile little old me won the Nobel Prize for crochet work, and Brian the cat has learnt how to operate the toaster.

It's not so much the theme but the execution. There's a certain part of me that is very much drawn to the excruciatingly trivial & the grindingly banal - and I think there's a certain type of writer who can get much more striking and quirky effects out of that kind of mundane everyday material than the big stuff. Look at Pinter or Peter Cook, for instance - though of course this has nothing at all to do with blogs...

this has nothing at all to do with blogs...

Oh, I think it does. It's our old friend, the difference between what you say, and how you say it. Pinter is a genius, and so is Cook. Equally, some writers can make the most hair-raising things sound banal.

I think the trouble with the round-robin Christmas letter is that if they only put the positive things in, it sounds smug, and because we're English, if they put the negative things in we all want to die of embarrasment at such self-exposure.

But there are bits of news that one would rather be kept up with, even about remote friends and relations - births, marriages, divorces and deaths, for example - if only to save embarrassment when you meet them at a wedding years later. So I suppose they serve their purpose.

Emma

births, marriages, divorces and deaths

Perhaps instead of round robins one should just send round memos with the important information:

2010 Divorced: Roger, Aunty Kate Beheaded: Lucy Died: Me, Your father Survived: Brian the Cat Sincerely,

<Added>

only that particular one would be from beyond the grave, wouldn't it!

Leila!

LoL Leila!!!!!!!!!

Emma

I use my blog as a diary to record my own thoughts and progress. Yes, it's probably dull. I don't really care if people read it or not. Yet, my family and friends love it. My mum is moved to tears every time she reads it. So, why not? I'm not forcing anyone else to read it. And, strangely enough, a fair few people visit my website every day, although I'm probably the most un-famous person on the whole of WW

My mum is moved to tears every time she reads it.

Is that a good thing?

My main recollection of things that move my mother to tears is that I should avoid doing those things!

only that particular one would be from beyond the grave, wouldn't it!

I'm not so sure. I think Brian the Cat has some tough questions to answer.

I think Brian the Cat has some tough questions to answer

Or he's learned to use a computer, as well as a toaster. It was probably the Microsoft Office doggie that got him interested.

Alex

My main recollection of things that move my mother to tears is that I should avoid doing those things!

You might be right. But then again, my mum is moved to tears by nearly everything I do, so I'd have to stop breathing (and that, surely, would move her to tears too)

I was joking about my mum, of course. I meant that some people write blogs that are aimed at friends and family. I always think it's a good start. After all, won't they be the ones buying my books first?

Not all blogs have the ambition to be of great use to fellow-writers/the general public. In fact, given my lack of experience, it would be incredibly presumptuous to write a blog for such reasons. But I'm still allowed to write one, aren't I?

I write a 'round robin' Christmas newsletter, and tho' I really hate the name of it, I think they're a good idea. If you don't see people very often it's nice to hear their news. I try not to sound smug, but I think people are more prone to sound smug about their kids than about themselves. I enjoy hearing a potted version of what others have done.

What I think is horrible is when you meet up with someone (maybe at a party) who you used to know quite well but haven't seen for a few years because one of you has moved away, and they assume you know their children's names and ages, and what job they're doing, and you feel embarrassed to say 'well, actually, are you a dustman these days or did you go into IT in the end?', or 'who the hell is Michelle?'. I'd much prefer to know what's going on.

Deb

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And I don't think these round robins need to be scintillating - just impart some news. They're once a year only, and usually quite short - so not like a blog. I still remember the one from my aged aunt and uncle which announced that my Auntie Mary had had a Big O that year....

I used to diss my cousin's round robin christmas newsletter, but he's recently stopped sending them and, since we only meet up at funerals, find I miss the family news.

Exactly.

Point of blogging for writers - it's about getting words out. Keeping the fingers tapping. If people find the stuff boring or crap the stats will show this. There are loads of private blogs out there so the choice to go public can be (can be) about keeping the pressure up and making sure you keep tapping. Each to his own though. My blog is resting but I've achieved all sorts through it. S