why I blog

I really needed a good night's sleep last night, after several nights in a row filled with sick little boys and little boy nightmares and obnoxious cats and.... Unfortunately, I was my own worst enemy last night, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. All because I was debating with myself the idea of giving up blogging.

In reality, it was no contest. Giving up blogging would be downright painful.

People blog for all sorts of reasons. When I first started just over three years ago, it was really just a place to record stuff about my family and save those memories until I had a chance to get them scrapbooked. But then I started meeting wonderful people and making friends. Then I joined my first reading challenges and began meeting even more wonderful people. People who shared a passion for books. And oh my goodness, I simply couldn't have guessed how much I would come to love some of these new friends I was making.

So, now, while I still blog to save stories about my family, I think I'm even more motivated by the friendships I've made. For me, blogging has become about keeping in touch with friends, and making new friends. I don't really even consider my blog a "book blog," for while I do talk a great deal about books, I also throw in a lot of personal family stuff, too. And yet still, I have to admit that I felt attacked yesterday by some of the chatter going on in the book blogging world. And that's what led to my tossing and turning...and what led to this post.

It seems that there are some people who are of the opinion that there are but a few "top-tier" book blogs, and the impression given was that they felt everyone else should just get out of "book blogging" altogether. The word "parasite" was even used in reference to smaller book blogs. This attitude makes me both sad and angry, but mostly I just find it baffling.

For if not for us little pissant book-lovers out here, who would be reading their blogs?!! I'd be willing to bet that a lot of "top-tier" (not my word) blogs get most of their audience from small book bloggers. Why would they want to insult the audience they so very badly seem to want?

And the fact is that there are plenty of very popular book blogs out there who don't hold such elitist views...Nymeth, Becky, Eva. And I definitely don't mean to imply that that is an exhaustive list. Just three very popular blogs, run by three very gracious and welcoming ladies.

Like I said, baffling. If some people want to turn book blogging into some sort of competition, so be it, I suppose. But I genuinely hope that those people new to blogging don't become discouraged by that kind of talk. Because there really are a lot of friendly people out here who just love books, love to talk about books, and love the chance to meet other people who love books.