#2 Blogging is commenting

When I comment on a blogpost I enter into a richer relationship with the person posting and the other commenters. I’ve joined the conversation. I also find the very act of writing clarifies my thinking. But often by the time I hit “publish” I feel like I don’t quite agree with what I’ve written.

It’s an uncomfortable moment. I still probably sweat this too much. Because if blogging is about anything (and commenting is as much blogging as posting to your own blog in my books) it’s about embracing a sense of process, of flow.

It’s ok if I change my mind: I can always comment again. If I change my mind as a result of someone else’s post or comment, well hallelujah: learning has occured!

I also love to see my name in lights and commenting is the easiest way to do that. Sometimes I get performance anxiety because I equate this to publishing a book or something. In the sense that the vast, vast majority of books only get read by a very, very few people it is exactly like that.

It’s just more accessible than book publishing. More of us can do it.

There is nothing that will energize a budding blogger more than getting feedback, and the impact is even larger when it comes from someone distant or unknown. It validates (or invalidates, or infuriates) a blogger’s writing. It says that you are not just spewing words out into the ether, that they land somewhere. And it connects us. From cogdogblog