Blogging as a hobby

[Stella]

I know we talk about this from time to time and I enjoy these discussions, especially checking out other SLers blogs. Do you blog as a hobby? What do you blog about? What do you get out of it?

I recently started blogging again because I realized that I was starting to spend quite a bit of money on my other hobbies, and blogging is free. :)

I like it because it gives my brain something to chew on. I enjoy writing and communicating with others, so blogging is kind of a natural outgrowth of that.

Post a link here to your blog if you like. I'd love to read them.

[Rosemary]

I blog to share information.

http://rosemaryevergreen.blogspot.com

[LilyB]

Thanks for the links. I am going over to read them as soon as I finish posting. I enjoy reading blogs but I haven't written entries for one in ages. I like the idea of it being an inexpensive hobby, Stella. I'll post a link to mine when I have one started;).

[Stella]

Rosemary that pie sounds fantastic. I keep wanting to try something with a nut crust. I love nuts and I can take or leave most pie crusts.

Lily I look forward to reading your blog when it is posted!

[Florence]

Most blogs have a theme but I've never come up with a good theme for my blog--retirement, finance, cooking, politics, books are all jumbled together.

http://florence-ruminations.blogspot.com/

[fidgiegirl]

Stella, you will start to see that as you comment on others' blogs you will get more readers for yours, too.

If you don't already use an RSS feed reader I think it is essential if you want to build your audience. You will get a sense of how often is good to post, how much is too much, not enough, etc., and can get great ideas from other bloggers. I get the feeling you are not interested in having a hugemongous readership but it really is more fun when you know people are reading and you get a comment or a like here or there.

I love this video for learning about RSS. It's really easy once you get started. Maybe you're already doing it!

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/rss

[catherine]

Thanks for sharing the tips, Kelli.

My blog is www.silententry.wordpress.com, and it's thoughts about simplicity from a spiritual/internal POV. I feel sometimes we crave simplicity when our internal worlds are a bit chaotic (at least I think I do), and so I kind of like to explore the internal foundations of simplicity.

[fidgiegirl]

I enjoyed checking out your blogs, catherine and Florence. Rosemary and Stella I was already subscribed to the two of you via RSS so haven't missed a thing :)

[Selah]

I started a blog last year when I signed up for an adult ed class on how to blog. At the time, I thought I would use that blog as a kind of vehicle to practice with, thinking I'd start another, more commercially viable one with a specific demographic in mind. Ironically, I ended up sticking with that "practice" blog and have continued with it, and have even managed to make my way through the labyrynth (sp?) known as Google Ad Sense. I still haven't made any money on it, though! :(

I really enjoy blogging, and for the most part, it IS free. However, as I've been learning as I've been doing, I've found areas where it is indeed possible to spend money on blogging, even though I use Blogger as my free platform and host. For example, once I started to take pictures to post on my blog, it became apparent that the clunky little thing I had as a digital camera wasn't really sufficient in terms of quality or versatility. Whoopsie, a new camera ended up costing DH's budget for my birthday/anniversary/Hanukkah presents for the whole year! You can also go nuts by buying fancy mastheads, buying stock photos to post instead of taking your own pictures, or by not using a free blogging platform or host. I could get a green screen and some software to go with it if I wanted to do novelty shots, etc.

For example, recently I wanted to embed a link to an audio file I'd created, but Blogger doesn't let you do that. There exists, however, a service you "could" use to create embed codes for audio files, but it costs $20 a month to use. Keeping my Simple Living habits and Joe Dominguez in mind, I solved that problem for free by having DH lay the track down in a video he produced, which was just a slide show made from free clipart. He uploaded the "video" to YouTube and I shared it from there to my blog.

[Stella]

Thanks for the tips Kelli! You are right, I'm not necessarily trying to build up a huge readership, but I do enjoy the interactive side of blogging and it's a fun way to get an online conversation started and you do need readers for that.

Selah you make a good point about places you could spend money on blogging. I do have a nice SLR digital camera, but oddly enough I end up taking most of my pictures on my iPod. I think it's mostly because its always with me.

[Mighty Frugal]

I've had a handful of blogs since 2008 and I've enjoyed writing in every one of them! Some more than others. My girlfriend convinced me to start a new one so I did
http://snakesandsnails2.blogspot.ca/

It's about being a mom of boys (I was certain I was having only girls)

but not sure how long I will keep at it. It's fun to think of new ideas and I love getting comments too-I don't post a lot on FB so this is the only place I 'talk'

I have a great fun idea of a new blog percolating but I just can't find the time right now to do it!

One of my old blogs got tons of traffic-well tons for me-like 400 hits a day sometimes-is that a lot?? But it was from google hits-the name and pics were controversial.

This blog gets almost no hits, but that's OK, it's fun to write! and like Stella says it's FREE!

[Mrs-M]

Catherine. I just wanted to say that, seeing you on Wordpress, you don't look anywhere near old enough to have four grown children! I hope I age as gracefully and marvelously as you.

[Sissy]

I have started blogging twice and could never keep up with it. Since I am on the 'net so much, I have been thinking of it again. I am not sure that i want the commitment. I certainly do like reading blogs, so good luck! Heck, are we not all about "simple" here? KISS is a good motto for a blog.


ETA: Dang it, now I have to go back through all of the archives on all of these blogs to bring myself up to speed. It is all Stella's fault. :doh:

[catherine]

Catherine. I just wanted to say that, seeing you on Wordpress, you don't look anywhere near old enough to have four grown children! I hope I age as gracefully and marvelously as you.

Mrs-M, why do you think I wore the sunglasses and hid myself behind the ice cream cone! You are so kind! (But I DO believe my secret to looking young is eating LOTS of ice cream!)

[Mrs-M]

Catherine. I will forever be humbled by your humility.

[shadowmoss]

I blog at shadowmoss.blogspot.com - can't do an actual link as it is blocked here at work now. I've posted it here before. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks as I'm kind of hit and miss with it. I do get some comments and that is fun. Mostly it is to let friends keep up with me, and to keep track of when I've done what.