Am I Flogging a Dead Blog?

“Hello?” *Tap, Tap* “Anybody still out there?”

I won’t be offended by silence if no one responds. After all, I have definitely withdrawn on the blogging business the last few months. But I realized recently that it was four years ago this month that I began blogging. Four years! Holy cow. So much change in four years. Back when I started Out of the Wordwork in 2009, I recognized even then that I was quite late to the game and I joined a bit reluctantly but it was still quite a momentous step for me in terms of entering the social media whirl that was part and parcel of the publishing game. Back then (back in the ‘old days’ Nelsa said in a quavery voice) you almost had to play that game to show potential publishers you were willing to market yourself. But these days, a blog? Meh. Maybe not so relevant.

I get it. There is already so much information out there on writing and publishing what more can another writer add? Besides, Twitter and Facebook have become the networking communication medium of choice amongst writers so a blog seems unnecessary. And I am certainly struggling with whether to keep this one going. But I’m struggling with a lot of things about publishing and writing these days – social networking is the least of it.

I’ve even gotten a sense from Facebook and Twitter that many writers are either taking breaks from social networking or lessening their time on those mediums significantly. Maybe it’s the general angst about the book publishing industry and the intensity with which writers must keep pushing in the face of so many obstacles these days that putting pressure on yourself to write a blog for the sake of writing a blog seems foolish. There is so much information out there already that sometimes you feel like you’re just adding to the noise. These days I want less noise not more, hence the title of this post: why keep flogging a dead blog?

In any case, for all those who still occasionally check in I can’t promise many future posts but I hope you peruse some of the posts from the past. There are a few that many people do find helpful/inspirational or just plain silly. And for those hockey mom’s out there my Hockey Mom Prayer post is the little post that keeps on going! Shared so many times on Facebook and such that I’m amazed. So I guess blogging can sometimes be useful. At least I’ve got a pretty neat record of my life these last four years!

See you soon (or not!) :)