Mamacita says:  Some people are saying that blogging is dead – that Facebook, Twitter, and PInterest, which are faster and shorter and easier, are taking over the social media movable feast. Not for me.   It is quite true that these platforms are taking up much of my former blogging time, but you know something. . . . popular and fun and useful as other aspects of social media might be, my first love is also my current love:  blogging.

I am one of the old-school bloggers.  My archives go back to April 2004, and by blogging/social media standards, that’s practically ancient.

I go to conferences mainly to meet up with other old-school bloggers.  Oh, I love meeting the newbies, too – we all begin everything as newbies – but my heart beats with love at the very thought of the other old-timers, the bloggers I’ve known and followed for years.  I’d list them here but they know who they are.  I only hope they know how precious they are to me.

Whether I’m speaking or just attending, blogging conferences are necessary for my soul.

My clients are precious, also.  I give them my full attention, and I hope I give them exactly what they need and want.  I also hope they let me know pronto if I don’t.

This blog is not a client blog, although several clients have “discovered” me here.  This blog is where I talk about my own “stuff,” and if that is of interest to others, more the better.  (SQUEEEEEEE….)

Blogging saved my soul alive, but that is probably another story.  Someday, perhaps I will have the courage to tell it.  Some of you already know it, and your support has meant the world to me.

Those of you who have encouraged me along the way will be precious until the day I die.  Possibly even after that.

Blogging has enhanced my life.  It has enhanced my teaching.  It has enhanced my social media work.  It has enhanced me.  Our blogs are an extension of. . . well, us.  This blog is me I.  (First person nominative pronouns follow linking verbs. . . .)  <–Proof that this blog is about me. (First person objective pronouns follow prepositions.)  <–More proof.  Real blogs are about real people.  Don’t confuse a real blog with an ad campaign, or anything the writer is being paid to write.  Personal blogs and business blogs are not the same thing.

Yes, a blog, done up right, will be a conversation.  It will be therapy.  It will be an open window and, if you’re  lucky, an open door.  A blog will help you learn about others, but mostly, it will help you learn more about yourself.  Your blog will be a living thing, with a heart and a soul.  It will make you better.  Mine is improving me, ongoing.

I think it would do the same for you.  Give it a chance.

Blogging is far more than keeping a diary of what you had for dinner.  That might have worked for Samuel Pepys, but these days people save that stuff for Twitter.  🙂

We had chicken/cheese enchiladas for dinner tonight.  Interested?  I thought not.

Blogging gives us a look into other people’s lives, and allows us to become acquainted, really acquainted.  Blogging lets us share, and help, and like each other and, sometimes, even love each other, and I don’t necessarily mean the romantic or creepy kind.  Blogging is the village that everyone needs.

I met some of my best and dearest friends via blogging.  So can you.

What are you waiting for?