To Blog or Not to Blog

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."—E.L. Doctorow

"Blogging is a socially acceptable form of talking to oneself." -Myself

Perhaps that is why I find blogging interesting and quite natural, for I have always been accustomed to talk to myself. Perhaps it is a habit like that of Gandalf, choosing to speak to the wisest person.

However, there is a difference between blogging and mere talking to oneself. Rather than addressing comments to myself as if I were another person (which generally is the form talking to oneself takes), I address my comments as if I were addressing all the inhabitants of the entire world, and any other worlds I do not yet happen to know about.

This, of course, is not true for all. There are numerous people out there blogging who are not talking to themselves, not even talking to themselves as if they were addressing the whole world, but instead are talking to a group of dedicated readers. I would guess, though, that even these people started out their blogging careers (if it can be called that) by talking to themselves as if they were the whole world; if not, then I daresay they must have been famous already, or have begun by bribing a whole bunch of people to read, and comment on, their blogs.

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Upon rereading that, I am not wholly certain it is true after all, though a good portion of it is. Now, I think perhaps that blogging is really more like addressing an entire audience that does not exist.

This, however, is a point of mere detail, for it is really no different than what I have stated above except in the form of my expression of the matter: addressing a group of people that does not exist is scarcely different—if at all—from addressing yourself as a group of people; either way you are projecting yourself into a group of people, whom you are then addressing.

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Then again, this may just be an excuse for why I receive no more than an occasional comment or two. Of course, that is entirely my own fault, since I have not really told anyone I even have a blog, let alone that they might actually want to read it. Perhaps I ought to. It may not be a good thing to talk to oneself all the time...