Who Still Blogs Anyway?

The first 10 notes of Beethoven’s Fur Elise rang from my phone notifying me that I had received a text message. I unlocked the iPhone that had been decorated with a brand new navy blue and rose-gold case and read the message to myself.

“Jas!” I could feel the shock and excitement emanating out from behind the words that I was reading. “Catching up on some of your blog posts and ‘A Collection of Memories’ had completely inspired and touched me!”

I don’t think that I was able to wrap my head around what she was trying to tell me. Clearly my friend wasn’t referring to any of the posts on my blog. However, I responded with appreciation for the kind words.

“I just had to tell you,” she continued in the text message thread. “It inspired me to write too.”

My friend’s text message had reminded me of all the other friends who had taken up blogging over the years. Each one had mentioned that their interest in blogging had first stemmed from my own blogging that had begun in 2009; but had seven years of telling strange stories on the internet about my life really inspired others to write about their lives?

I don’t believe it was the way in which I have taken up blogging, how I write, or what I write about that has inspired a few friends to take up blogging. I am no literary master or famed author. I haven’t revolutionized blogging or created some new form of style that has encapsulated a movement or that has transfixed a wide audience. I’ve kept things simple, for the most part, but a few people on the internet come back to read what I have to say.

I believe hidden subtly under the string of words that I have typed so far is a faint sense of passion that my small audience has picked up on. Sandwiched somewhere in-between the strange stories, the recapitulating of everyday events, and posts about generally nothing, sits a noticeable adoration for textual artistic endeavors.

Somehow, those who are still reading my mildly entertaining blog have managed to overlook an abundance of grammatical errors and have resonated with the shared love of the written word; or, perhaps, a habit of just being nosy, which is fine since I’m nosy as well.

I definitely appreciate those who still read my blog, I am happy to hear that some of those readers have been inspired to start their own blogs. If anything, rather than become stupid rich from writing, like JK Rowling, I find pleasure in knowing that what I’m sharing through my passion for writing is encouraging others to take up a pen and write as well.