Motivational Reading

When Andie asked me to write this entry, I thought easy. I can do that. What inspires me from reading other’s blogs? The answer is so simple. It’s… Hrm. What does inspire me? So after thinking about this long and hard, I realized it’s not a simple answer. I’ll pare it down to this.

I have enjoyed blogging since about 2003. It gave my out-of-work-pregnant-butt the motivation to be productive. Reading my “daily reads” became as routine as reading the newspaper. I needed to continue reading to stay informed because in this day and age of rapid-fire tweets and Facebook updates, it’s easy to feel left out of the loop in a hurry. That said, it’s a two way street; to get read you also need to write.

Blogging is such a narcissistic hobby. As the writer, we want comments, hits, and a regular following . It feeds the megalomaniacal monkey on our backs. However, it’s not long before beginning to write that you ask yourself, so now what? I’ve run out of ideas. Read my friends. Assuming your blog was noteworthy at some point or another, you are likely to have received a comment from a stranger. Read their blog. Even if you hate it, there is likely to be something you can borrow. An idea for a topic, an interesting, or a global game like The Freaking Green Elf Shorts.

** Aside note: Interestingly, many of my blog-friends have been past winners of the shorts.

Many things have inspired me in the past. In the end, at the risk of sounding like a greeting card, its the friendships I’ve made online that seem to get my creative juices flowing. Take this one for example. I met Loralee from a post I did regarding my love of John Denver. She found me based on this random fact and we’ve found that we have a lot more in common - not all of it good. The things that makes me love her blog though? Her writing style. She has a youthful vibe in her words that I only wish I could emulate. I try, believe me I do.

The other reason friends rock? They will gladly kick you in the butt for delaying their daily/weekly/monthly/whathaveyou read. Few will keep coming back if you don’t write something, anything. Even if it’s a silly photo or song (I once used the Bad Day song by Daniel Powter on my page for a month until Tazzy and Piggy suggested I axe it. I thought it worked as my theme song. They kindly disagreed with me.) Point is? The same post staring them in the face won’t sell. I know, I’ve tried the “disappearance” and that’s what you get, disappearing readers. I just try to remember to write bird-by-bird and cross my fingers that my brainwave of the moment was a good one.