No ands, ifs, or butts—this titilating title and content isn’t just a naked attempt to get a leg up on my subscriber numbers.

I normally keep this sort of thing close to my chest, but when Vanessa Fox invited me to bare all my reasons for blogging, I felt bound to oblige.

Ironically, just the day before, I was asking myself the very same thing (no, not why didn’t I pick a more sexy blog name… okay, that too!… but primarily, why DO I blog?).  Seriously.

And what I came up with at that time was this very-honest list:
1. I don’t know.
2. I don’t know.
3. I don’t know.
4. I don’t know.
5. Honestly, I don’t really know.

That, of course, may go a long way towards explaining why I seem to average about a whopping post or two a month nowadays :-(.

But, to avoid disappointing Vanessa and all 42 of you others who read my blog, I did some more soul searching and came up with a decidedly more interesting list of reasons why I blog, or at least why I think I do.

I determined that I’ve had decidedly different motivations to blog before and after working for Google.  And—in contrast with some of the others participating in this meme—apologies in advance for the more-serious / comparatively-boring nature of my answers.

Key reasons why I blogged before becoming a Googler

1. While working on my own and quite often working from home, blogging was an additional way of “connecting with the world,” and especially with like-minded geeks.
2. On a related note, since I was spending very long hours in front of the computer doing client work, it was also a convenient way of blowing off steam.
3. I’ve been passionate about Google for ages, and figured by being a loudmouth about my Google wishes and gripes and such, I might effect positive change . 
4. As a contractor/consultant/online-communications-mercenary, I viewed my blog as a bit of a showcase.  In particular, I felt it was important to demonstrate that I had a basic understanding of online communications, possessed information and also opinions (hopefully even interesting ones!) on a variety of geeky and non-geeky topics, and was, frankly, someone that’d not be too terribly boring to work with.  Along those lines, I also viewed it as a bit of a filter; anyone who’d turn up their nose at my online-evident eccentricities was likely someone I wouldn’t want to work with anyway .

Reasons why I still blog

Well, I’m certainly not looking for any consulting gigs nowadays, and when I have Google ideas or gripes or questions, I just walk down the hall or bug a colleague by e-mail or IM.  Still, though, I continue to blog (and enjoy doing so) for other reasons…

1. It entertains and amuses my friends and I guess others as well.  I have good friends all over the world, and they’ve told me that even my lame entries make them smile.
2. I enjoy spotlighting geeky hobbies and passions that others might not know much about and might enjoy getting to know (e.g., Lindy Hop) :-D.
3. I’ve greatly appreciated what I’ve learned from others on the net and feel that it’s karmic’ly right to share a bit in return (tips, reviews of products and services, and so on)
4. I kinda feel obligated to blog.  That doesn’t mean I don’t find it fun and rewarding, but there’s also the negative motivation of sorts: I’ve built up a brand, however insignificant and badly named, and invested a crapload of time into not only the content but the infrastructure/design/etc. behind this blog as well (don’t laugh!  just implementing that stupid menu above took forever, not to mention the re-templating + importing after switching from MT to EE.  Abandon all that work?!!!!!!!)
5. I’m inspired by many other bloggers, seeing how much they inform and inspire.  The generalist nature of my blog means I’m unlikely to ever become a major blogebrity and I’m rather content with that, but I know that even non-A-level-bloggers wield a power to do good through their writing, however cliched that may sound.

* * *

On that note, I’d like to tap five fine female friends of mine to give their top five reasons that they blog (or thwap me with a wet e-noodle for forgetting that they have already disclosed such info on their blog):
- Erica ("Erica’s Joys")
- Jen ("Nonsense Verse")
- Meg ("Little Meg Goes to Grad School”—where I even have a thankfully anonymous guest mention )
- Susan ("Let’s Eat")
- Thu ("Of cats and code and random stuff”—and birthday girl this weekend!)

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