Once in a while a few thoughts run through my mind about blogging. Blogs can be sorted into various types. I'm not sure that there would be a good reason to sort blogs. We would probably get into a long discussion about types of blogs and which category a certain blog would fit into.
Now that I've bumbled along and confused everybody this is what I want to say.
Many blogs are of the blogger's day to day activities. These bloggers tend to blog everyday. These blogs are journals. It's a brief record of what they do everyday and they or anybody else can look back to see what happened. Some bloggers openly say that the purpose of their blog is to let friends and family know what they are doing from day to day.
Before the days of computers and blogging, people wrote journals. Some journals were detailed and lengthy. Journals have been valuable as they can be used as a source for research material. All kinds of people wrote journals. Our local well known naturalist Kerry Wood journaled. His journals are in the local archives.
I journaled for about 10 years. My journal entries were very brief. However when I read an entry it tends to remind me of all I did on that day. I wish I had written a larger more detailed entry. I wish I had continued journaling.
So here's one page of my journal. The year was on the front of the book I used to write in. I'm always surprised at how much I did in a day.
I know many bloggers consider their blog to be a type of journal. Journals can be very useful in many ways not to mention an excellent method of keeping a personal or family history. My brother and I have also kept some family letters as that can be a type of family history.
ReplyDeleteI like your journal and yes, you did get a lot done each day! It may be that because you wrote short journal entries you were more likely to keep journaling for a longer time period. You could always go back to journaling or do you consider your blog to be a type of journal?
I suppose there are as many different kinds of journals as there are journalists.
DeleteI've kept a journal since I retired from work - I'm surprised by how little I do some days! Which, of course, is why I don't blog until I've got something to report that I hope others might find interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think you're wise to make the judgement to only write when you have something to say.
DeleteAlthough most of us blog for ourselves in a way, I think the fact that a few others may read our little pieces is a motivation to keep on. I tried journalling a few times before blogging, but I never kept at it. Of course, being retired helps.
ReplyDeleteJournaling requires us to set up a routine. It's hard to set up a routine.
DeleteInteresting to see you had a teacher’s retreat at Banff. I remember numerous such experiences but never at such a stunning location!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was in the Banff Springs hotel. The ground floor of the hotel is fancy but the rooms leave a bit to b desired. I was in Banff for quite a few professional development sessions.
DeleteOn and off during my life I have kept a diary which is different than your journal. It was more my thoughts or feelings of the day. I have thrown them all away as I really don't need anyone reading some of the things I wrote after I have died! :)
ReplyDeleteThe diary is much more personal so yes, I can see that if a diary got in the wrong hands it could cause some difficulties.
DeleteI have kept a daily journal for nearly 25 years. The journal of my father and grandfather stretch back another 70 or 80 years. Although I don't do it often at this stage in my life, I occasionally look back and always enjoy the memories that come back with reading what I wrote.
ReplyDeleteFor me, blogging has been more therapy than journaling. It is my way of working through issues that would take too long to do in my journal. Much of the time it does end up as a journal of sorts of my daily adventures but that is mostly just to keep the audience satisfied if I go through a long period of not having something to mull over.
That's a great span of time for family journals. I hope that they are all kept together.
DeleteI keep a journal but only write in it once a month. I started writing it in 1991 when my father was diagnosed with cancer. For many years each journal entry began, "Dear Dad..." When my mom passed in 2018, the journal entries changed to, "Dear Parents..." I tell them what's going on in our lives and in our world.
ReplyDeleteI love blogging because it has also been a way for me to keep track of what we've been up to, what we've seen. It's also given us the most wonderful opportunity to virtually meet interesting and lovely fellow bloggers.
Cool way to talk to your parents. Yes, one can make very good journal through a blog. You can throw in lots of photos now.
DeleteI kept a journal for ten years, too. They are all numbered and live on my bookshelf. Once in awhile I'll look through them, but mostly it's like a different person wrote them! I enjoy reading the blogs of my friends and do try to make mine sort of interesting, but the routine is what keeps me going.
ReplyDeleteYou mention a point I never thought about. "It's a different person" Great incite.
DeleteI have kept a journal since I was a young girl. Paul and I have really enjoyed the ones I wrote with memories of the early days of our marriage and teaching in Appalachia. It’s surprising how many things we had forgotten and never would have remembered if I hadn’t written them down.
ReplyDeleteI find also that you remember things better by writing them down. It seems like just a few brief sentences bring back a whole day.
DeleteI never kept a journal but my photos do help to recall different days when I took the photo. I can remember pretty good. My wife keeps a journal and is very consistent keeping it going.
ReplyDeleteWell there definitely are photo journals so there you go. You have been journaling.
DeleteIn the sense that blog is short for web log, then it's not a proper blog if it's not a diary. Mine isn't.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever! Blogs are fun to write!
DeleteI have tried journaling several times but have always abandoned it after a short amount to time. I like blogging because I can share photography.
ReplyDeleteI never did keep a journal. I suppose the blog is one.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun to know what category my blog would fit into. Probably none. I journal in a different way. I keep a record of what I eat every day but also on each day I jot down the weather, or anything interesting that happened, or how much yard work I got done, and gardening notes.
ReplyDeleteI kept journals on and off. I fell into blogs naturally.
ReplyDeleteThe blog is just a bigger high tech journal.
ReplyDeleteI started blogging to write down the things I thought were interesting or things I wanted to process but it has long since morphed into a kind of journal. It's not very detailed so probably not great for historians.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Red. There are many different types of blog. I find it weird how like-minded bloggers seem to flock together like starlings.
ReplyDeleteI got in the habit of journaling partly to help me remember things, because I have a terrible memory. The blog helps on that count, too!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading what you did in a day. I enjoy a variety of blogs. Mine is a journal of sorts but I have a personal and private one. Both these blogs started out for our son, for him to see what his parents were interested in, places we went to, that kind of thing. And also for family and friends who pop in but rarely comment. I feel many will not be interested in what I have shared, but I'm appreciative of the ones who enjoy and revisit. We are possibly similar in our tastes. All that being said it was important for me to put a record of us, because it seemed a shame that we didn't know our own parents day to day routines. I would have been interested in what they would have done, even if it were the most menial of things. All would have been interesting to me. I am more a photographic blog than anything else these days, but I do chatter on at times and find myself doing that now, so I will move on ;) Thank you Red, I enjoy your blog very much :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I started blogging, it was for me, myself and I. Then I started to get comments, and I had to change what I was writing for a different and larger audience.
ReplyDeleteI actually started out reading blogs and commenting. I loved the glimpses of other people's lives in their corner of the world. I was urged to begin a blog of my own. Although I have only the past couple years visible, I've been blogging since 2008. You know, Red, I've got to thank you. I used to read John and Beans, and then lost track of them. Thanks for their link!
ReplyDeleteI write for me, and the Grands:)
ReplyDeleteI suppose it is a form of journaling. I find it useful as a record I can refer to when I want to check details.
ReplyDeleteI used to keep a journal which is very helpful now that I'm doing the photobooks of all our family photos. Then I started blogging and I couldn't blog and write in a journal also so the only time I write now is in my travel journal. Then again, we haven't traveled in 2 years so I guess nothing gets written down. This could explain the deterioration in my handwriting which was never great to begin with.
ReplyDeleteSome bloggers do use the blog as a type of journal and it's interesting to follow along with their journey. I keep handwritten journals. I've been doing that on and off for most of my life, and just about every day for the past five years.
ReplyDelete