ON BEING THAT BLOGGER FRIEND

I am that blogger friend. When you are different you tend to notice after a while. I recognize that everyone has different hobbies and interests, but when you have one that involves recruiting other people to take part in your passion, it becomes more obvious.

My other friends pretty much post pictures or don’t post anything on Facebook. And I am here like, “HEY GUYS! PLEASE READ MY BLOG. I WILL EVEN MAKE IT CONVIENENT BY POSTING THE LINK RIGHT HERE. THANKS. BYE.”

Blogging is more than writing something and then clicking publish. One minute you are tapping the keyboard like you have a vengeance, trying to crank out a coherent thought. The next minute you are blowing up social media begging people to care about what you have to say. (Not to mention all of the work that goes into designing the layout and messing with HTML, and all of that the other stuff that people generally don’t realize that much.)I love writing. It’s all of the other stuff that makes my skin all itchy. It can be somewhat uncomfortable to ask other people to take the time to read your posts. You have to value your audience’s time, and so you think, This has to be worth their while. Like T.I. once wisely said, “I don’t want no mediocre.” Just kidding, I don’t actually think T.I. is wise, and that song is ridiculous. But really, I want what I say to be meaningful.

Writers look for validation. Scratch that—everyone looks for validation, but as a writer we have to constantly put ourselves out there and ask people to dedicate a little bit of time to listen to us. When people take the time to read our writing or even let us know they like it, it makes us feel like all the time we spend hunched over a keyboard was worth it. It makes us feel like what we had to say meant something, and that is the best feeling a writer can have (I mean intrinsically. I am sure J.K. Rowling felt pretty special after the whole movie deal thing, and once the checks started rolling in. And some other stuff happened with that series too, but not everyone can have his or her own cult global following.)

I have to write. A lot. I write almost every day, but I don’t publish everything I write, and I don’t just write blog posts. Sometimes I write fiction, and sometimes I just write to write. Writing a quality post takes a ton of time. Obviously we want people to read our writing, but it is easy to think, “Why the heck should they listen to what I have to say?” That pushes me to be a better writer. It motivates me to prove myself worthy, and it encourages me to write more so that I can get better. Recently, I read that most writers don’t publish their best work until 20 years into their writing careers. I realize that this is a lifelong journey, and as I continue to write and age my writing will continue to grow and mature. That is part of the reason this blog has evolved so much. It changes as I do, and I hope that we change for the better. Life in the Lost and Found Bin isn’t about feeling lost and hopeless. It’s about having the strength to keep searching for the things that make me happy and the strength to admit when I feel a little lost on that journey.

I am always posting links. Sometimes I wonder what people think about what I write or what they think of me posting links to Facebook or Twitter all the time. Do they read it? Do they like it? Do they think I am strange? I hope they read it. I hope they like it. I am strange. I pray that someone other than my mom and Grandma is reading this. (But thank you Mom and Grandma for reading this.) I don’t have a lot of other friends that blog or really enjoy writing for that matter, but when someone posts a blog post on Facebook I pretty much always read it. It’s cool to see what other people have to say, and I hope other people feel that way, too.

I love when people read my blog. So if you’re reading this, know that it means the world to me. This is my happy place, and I am so delighted that you have joined me. You might know I don’t like to get cheesy and sappy, but knowing that there are people supporting me being “that blogger friend” makes me like this.

Thank you. Happy Independence Day, everyone. God Bless America, the land of the free [wifi in coffee shops].