A Very Silly Word
First off, it is of course a pissingly stupid word. Apparently it's a portmanteau that blends "web log" and "we blog". Anything with the word "log" in it is bound to get my inner 4 old year giggling. Aside from that it implies some kind of diary or journal of the writer: I could not think of many things much more dreary. Blogging definitely had overtones of lonely teenagers pouring their thoughts out on their computers to me before I really grasped what they were. To be honest when I started on Twitter and saw people promoting their blogs I thought it a little self-indulgent. Who cared what this person had to say? Who cares what I have to say? If I bothered to write one, who exactly would read it anyway?
It really did take me a time to "get it". I dipped into some of the "big name" blogs like the brilliant @DavidAllenGreen and @_MillyMoo and found them informative and entertaining. These were "proper" writers who knew their stuff, though. They were explaining elements of law and current affairs in an accessible, interesting way. That is quite different to pip squeak me sitting here and pouring my uninformed thoughts out. In a state of quite a lot of annoyance during the student protests I did have a go at writing one blog kettling for LibCon. It was mildly terrifying sending it in and seeing it published, but it seemed to go down quite well. I also wrote a couple of pieces for Political Reboot. I was still some way from setting up my own blog though.
After Omi Died
Then my grandmother died. I heard the news from my Mutti when I was in the bath. I got out, set up a blogger profile and just poured my heart out. It remains the single post I'm most proud of. The link is here. It tells the story of a 26 year woman who packs her life onto a horse and cart, with my not yet 4 year old mother, in the bitter snowy cold of a Prussian winter, and flees for her life at the end of the Second World War. I was in a state of shock and desperately wanted to share her story. I tweeted it and it was retweeted. People read it and I was immensely touched, moved and grateful that they would bother to read the story of my Omi. I also wanted a permanent historic record for my own family in the future.
After Omi, I guess I just got hooked. But what exactly *are* blogs? Perhaps my favourite blogger, the brilliant Steven Baxter (@SteBax) described it in his published collection of blogs "Musings of a Monkey" in the following way. It is responding "to that nagging voice in your head that tells you to write because that's how you feel best at communicating." It's a "way of getting across what you want to get across at a particular moment, which may be something profound or something profoundly silly."
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That said, people do read my blogs. I'm frankly amazed and honoured that they do. There's no question that the kind of messages I receive from time to time keep me writing. If people told me it was a load of boring shite that I churn out (normally on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday morning, once a week) I wouldn't bother.
I always enjoyed essay writing at school. My A-level history teacher Miss Cooper (she of the "Forget the "c" in Bismarck and you'll never have children" warning) taught me how to write essays properly and gave me lessons that stuck with me through university, law school and my later career. I'm very happy to do public talking and have had lots of experience at it, but writing is something else for me. I just love it. I'm slightly playful and put silly pictures in my blogs. I like them to be colourful and fun. I know the serious bloggers don't do this, but this is my blog, so sod it. As Steven Baxter comments, part of the enjoyment of blogging is there are no hard and fast rules to comply with.
A Personal Milestone
The milestone I was talking about earlier is 100,000 individual hits on the blog, which I passed this morning. The two most popular entries have been A Fake Belief (19,230 reads) which exposed the infamous "Lord Credo" as a liar and Twitter fraud; and The Perils of Twitter (14,200 reads) which was about a guy sending abusive lewd messages, plus more generally a warning about looking after your online safety. The "big" (for me) piece I wrote about my experience of living Ten Years with HIV is the third most read entry. Almost as popular were Scum: a furious piece I wrote about the reactions of the majority towards the actions of a minority during the riots; and How to use Twitter which is a bit of a tongue in cheek guide to our favourite medium.
I don't have anywhere near 19,000 or even 5,000 followers on Twitter. It means people are presumably retweeting links to my blogs or perhaps posting them on their Facebook pages. It really flatters me and if I'm honest makes me feel wanted that people will read my stuff. I hope you don't think I'm a dick for saying so. I know there are plenty of other blogs that get 100,000 hits a week. My "achievement" is nothing in the scheme of things, but it matters to me, so thank you.
Two You Might Have Missed
There are two more pieces I have written that didn't get many hits but which mean a lot to me. I'd just like to share them with you as they were a while ago and you might not have seen them. Boys in Girls Dresses is about my Dad and the somewhat amusing and quite inspiring way he reacted when I put on a dress when I six years old. Parents is about the time I called my Dad and told him I loved him. He died in 2000 and the memory of this still brings tears to my eyes. Please read it and do what I did.
Publicising a Blog
The last thing I'd like to say is I'm never sure how much to "push" a blog. I don't want to keep cluttering up people's timelines with a wanky egotistical "READ MY BLOG" tweet. On the other hand, there are many genuinely appreciate and kind responses and I know people come on line at different times of day. I'm grateful myself if I see a favourite blogger or friend promote their blog when I may have missed it the first or second time round. My rule is three tweets at different times on the day of publishing and that's it.
It is always possible, if the blogger has enabled the facility, to get email alerts of new posts from someone you enjoy reading on a regular basis. They don't see your email address (at least on Blogger which is what I use): google stores them and sends out alerts automatically.
Anyway, this whole thing is basically an explanation of why I blog and a thank you to anyone who has visited "The Blog That Peter Wrote". Given I hate the word "blog" so much I should probably come up with a better name like "Thoughts of a Teutonic Himbo" or some such. No, actually that's crap too :/ I'd also like to thank those who blog themselves for having touched, inspired, informed and moved me. You never know the power your words might have and the capacity to bring a smile.
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