Yeah, why do I blog?

Strawberry’s weekly meme/challenge this week feels like a real interview! About blogging and the why and stuff. I decided to answer her 14 (!) questions. I also enjoyed reading the other bloggers posts, lots in common and also lots of different reasons and content.

I will, as always, keep my answers strictly to Second Life and my avatar, I do blog in real life – longer than Caity has – mostly for my job. But this is Caity’s blog and this is ‘her’ world !

How long have you been blogging?
Since August 2010

Why did you start blogging?
At that time I was very active on Avatars United, posting a lot of pictures and ‘blogs’ about SL and The Imperium Katana. When AU closed, I felt I missed something, so I started a blog for Caity and also a seperate blog for The ImperiuM Katana (now closed). I like to share my finds and adventures and why yes…I also like to show off my pictures! My blog is also for me by now, a lovely diary/journal to go through on a rainy day and take a trip down memory lane.

How many times a week do you post an entry?
It depends on what I discover or do inworld, but usually once per day. There are however weeks with only 3 posts and also weeks (like this week, now I am exploring all sims of the Fantasy Faire 2013) with sometimes 2 posts per day!
In 2011 I participated in WordPress’ challenge: a post per day and I managed to keep that up for a whole year, I may add: due to the option to schedule posts for publication in advance it was less stressful as it seemed and I enjoyed it! (I also made sure to have some ‘generic’ posts ready in draft, in case I was away for bizz travel or for when I suffered a sudden lack of inspiration..). I am not sure if I will do a challenge like that anytime soon!

How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?
I guess around 50 regular and some random in between, I mostly use the WordPress reader and have some bookmarks for other formatted blogs.

Do you comment on other people’s blogs?
Not often, maybe not often enough ….I do however press the ‘like’ button if there is one and I liked it, or retweet a post.

Do you keep track of how many visitors you have?
Yes, I look at the statistics every couple of days. Just to see what seems to work and what attracts most readers – although I mainly blog for myself and what I like – it is nice to know what people enjoy reading and also to see via what medium they find my blog. I found I get a lot of hits via the SL Feed, Twitter and Flickr and as good as none via Plurk.

Did you ever regret a post that you wrote?
Not really. I may have written a too personal post once or twice, in retrospective, but I never regretted those and did not put them offline.

Do you think your readers have a true sense of who you are based on your blog?
Yes, I think my blog is a true representation of what I do in Second Life.

Do you blog under your real name?
Not about Second Life :)

Are there topics that you would never blog about?
Oh sure! I do not blog about Adult activities (my blog is rated General anyway), I do not blog to discuss the way Linden Lab is running their business and I do not blog discussions about other residents lifestyles. Also, I do not blog negative about a place or a person, or items. Yes, you could say I blog only positive, happy things, that is true and my choice. If I do not like something, it will simply not be found on my blog.

What is the theme/topic of your blog?
As my tagline says: ‘Love, life and other adventures in a Virtual World’. I think that covers it pretty much. I am not a fashionblogger, nor a product reviewer, I blog about my Second Life and the things I see and experience.

Do you have more than one blog?
Not since I closed down the ImperiuM blog.

What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?
One of the loveliest benefits is to have this online diary/journal for myself. And after some years, when I got more and more readers and my blog got the attention I get invitations for pre-opening access of art-installations or events, which I often gratefully accept as they give me the opportunity to explore a new destination before it opens to the public: less lag! I do not get free items to blog about, I do not even want them. Preview access is more than enough for me!
And lest but not least, I always look up new followers and have found many cool blogs that way, that I now follow too!

So, why do you continue to blog?
Simple! Because I love it. I enjoy making pictures, describing places, sometimes do a silly pictorial adventure (with Sy or Parrot) and share them with others. It makes me happy when someone sends me a message to thank me for a post, or to say they enjoy my pictures and finds. It is my hobby and that is the reason I invested in a domain-name, a pretty customized template and a special font for the headers.

And now this is also a great opportunity to say this to my readers: thanks for reading, following, commenting and liking my blog! Muah’s!