To Blog or Not to Blog ...

... and, paper or p.c.?

These were the questions I pondered for months before By Sun and Candlelight made its debut ~ 3 weeks ago today! There is an interesting thread right now at the 4Real Forums about blogging ~ doing it, not doing it, why we do it, why we don't. It got me thinking about my own reasons for blogging, and I find they are rooted in writing ...

Before I began my blog, I wrote. I have always written ~ this, that and the other thing. Nothing profound mind you; it's all quite haphazard. I keep all my writing in one place ~ a rather un-fancy 5-subject notebook. Plain cover, plain pages; I use pencil and sometimes pen. But into it I pour absolutely everything ~ notes, ideas, prayers, hopes, and sometimes my very heart and soul. And when all 180 sheets are full, I buy another notebook at the drugstore and begin all over again.

Onto these pages also goes any little scrap of material that speaks to me in some significant (or insignificant) way. Most often these are magazine articles and recipes, a label from a special bottle of wine, ticket stubs from a recent movie, or the wrapper from a favorite bar of soap. Sox scores, sticky notes, something cute the boys said, even a sketch of the cat ... you name it. If it catches my eye or touches my heart, into the notebook it goes.

It's a bit silly, I'll admit. But as I wrote all this out I realized how much I've come to rely on this humble spiral-bound book; it helps me unload my crowded mind and allows me to be just a little bit crafty even when all I'm doing is adding tape and crayon doodles.

Alas, this notebook has been neglected lately since I started blogging every spare minute I get. I used to keep it open and ready on the kitchen counter at all times ~ it was always there to receive my latest lightbulb moment. Now it sits off to the side, sometimes open, but more often closed.

When I started my blog, I thought it would step in as my new journal, and to some degree it has. But writing when you know someone's reading is a whole different story! I have found I blog in order to share and air out my thoughts; it's less about writing than it is for communicating.

Now I realize both of these journals - my log and my blog - serve a purpose; they allow me to create, consider and converse. In my blog I reflect; in my notebook I plan. In my blog I chat with others; in my notebook I chat with myself. My blog is a community; my notebook is my confessional.

Thank you for indulging me this extremely self-indulgent post; I write it for my own reminiscence more than anything else. Hopefully both of these journals will continue to grow and improve. As I shape them, I feel they will shape me.

And the best part of all, whether paper or p.c., I love looking back and remembering ... :)