Is Blogging Blase?

Blase......uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence. That is how the Free On-line dictionary defines blase. I'm beginning to wonder if that is what is happening to blogging from the standpoint of the blogger and the reader. My blog list has become huge and it seems like every week there is another one or two to add to it. It is more than I can keep up with....too much of a good thing.

I have to admit that I no longer rush to check out blogs every morning and obviously since I haven't written on this blog for over a week, I'm not as enthusiastic about blogging as I once was. It isn't just me. I've been going through my bookmarked blogs and checking to see what is happening. I have deleted a lot of blogs where people just stopped writing them. Lots of them without any notice. They just stopped. Some said that they were taking a break but that break had stretched out to over a year. I've deleted blogs whose focus has changed to something that no longer interests me.

One category of blog that has surprised me are the food blogs, both the cooking and restaurant review blogs. Some started off with such life and vitality but deteriorated into something rather bland. Houston Foodie says that it happened with the Houston food blogs because some people got paying gigs from their blogs and some started to feel obligated to write and the writing started becoming more generic.

Another category of blogs that I read are photography related blogs. Some bloggers who use to write and post photographs often are now more or less rewriting what is happening in photography rather than their own personal story about making art. The blog has become about public relations and advertising their work.

Some of my favorite Mexican bloggers have written on their blogs that they think that maybe they are bored with blogging or they are writing about the same things over and over.  I hope that those who have voiced those sentiments don't stop blogging because they are some of my favorite bloggers. But I understand where they are coming from. Some of us have been blogging for more than five years. We have written about each festival or getting a FM-3 or whatever more than once, it is hard to approach it again with the excitement and freshness of the first time or two that we wrote about it.

Most of us are good writers but there are a few blogs that I read that are written by very talented writers whose blog entry just hangs around in my head all day. Sometimes after I read one of their blogs, I wonder if I should bother posting anything ever again. I remind myself that it is like photography. Many photographer's have work that leaves me sitting in awe. I have my work and they have their work. If I don't do my work, no matter how I measure it against anyone else's work, then I lose a lot of joy in my life.

Here is a quote from the Houston Foodie. It is about food blogging but when I read it, I dropped out the word "food" and applied it to my blogging.

"So here's my advice for burned-out food bloggers and those who may be thinking about starting a food blog. Sit down in front of your computer with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, write about what you love, what you're passionate about, and assume no one's going to read it. It can be three paragraphs or thirty. And when you're done, if you like what you wrote and you think others will too, post it to your blog. Don't worry about pageviews or the number of comments. Four or five dedicated readers who appreciate the thought and effort you put into your blog are worth a thousand readers just passing through."

I do like being able to post my photographs and I do like to write, so I'm going to keep writing the blog about whatever, whenever I feel like it. I'm going to sit down with my cup of coffee or glass of wine and write. I'm not going to worry about whether it is a long post or a short post or even if it is only a photograph. Or if my blog is blase or not. Like Houston Foodie, I'll do it for the joy of writing it and I'll appreciate any readers who come along.