Bringing Mae Flowers

I am old enough to remember when blogs were popular.

Long before TikTok existed, and before the rise of YouTube, the written word ruled the internet. There were blogs on every topic you could think of: fashion, family, hobbies, and work. No matter what your interests were, you could find a blog that fit your taste. Readers poured in by the thousands, and previously unknown writers were making a living off ad space on their posts. Now it appears that Vlogging has killed Blogging the same way that Blogging killed the Zine.

Blogging may not be dead, but it isn’t about people anymore.

I know that blogs aren’t completely dead, because I work in SEO. Ironically the very thing that’s keeping blogs alive is part of the reason they are in decline. Blogs have become oversaturated and notorious for being- well- bad. There’s a reason for that. Adding new content to your website is the no.1 way boost your rankings on Google, and the easiest way to continuously add content to your site is to start a blog. The problem with this is that blog isn’t for readers. It’s not about sharing something you are passionate about-it’s to feed the bots. Even worse, most of the blog articles on these blogs are written by AI. So, the modern blog is written by bots, for bots. Who wants to be a part of that?

Apparently me, because I still have a blog.

I have been writing on this blog since 2017. For over 5 years I have maintained this blog, spilling my heart and soul out into the ether. And for what? I don’t make any money off of it- in fact, the domain costs me money. I don’t gain any notoriety from it- I have less than 200 subscribers. If I really wanted fame and fortune I could start a YouTube channel or grow my TikTok, but I don’t. Despite the large amount of work for little tangible return, I still choose to write and share online. The reason why is simple: because I want to.

My blog is a part of my life.

It’s embarrassing to admit that this blog is the most consistent part of my personal life. I’ve never finished anything that wasn’t school or work related. No matter how much I wanted something, my fizzled out before long. But that hasn’t been the case with this blog. I’ve never wanted to quit writing here. I have had my highs and lows with posting consistency, but no matter how depressed, anxious, or manic I have been, I’ve never stopped posting entirely. That alone is worth something.

I know other writers understand.

Most writers don’t write for the fame or money. If the strike in Hollywood has taught the public one thing, it’s that writers don’t make a lot of money. Most writers, whether they are screen writers, authors, or copy writers, are not living solely on the written word. We love writers, and love to consume the work of writers. We praise writers for their creations, but we don’t pay them enough to create full time. Far from living the dream, most writers are contractors constantly on the search for their next gig. That’s the reality of the writer’s life.

Blogs aren’t what they used to be.

Hell, writing isn’t even what it used to be. Today we aren’t just competing with other local writers. With the rise of the internet we started competing with other people around the world, and with the rise of AI we are literally competing with the computers we used to write on. No one can expect to make the money they would have in the hey-day of the blog, or even expect the same readership. Even so, I’m holding on to my blog. The blogging landscape may not be what it used to be, but my blog still means as much to me now as it did then. That alone is work blogging about, isn’t it?