Thoughts on blogging

Over the years I have written hundreds, perhaps thousands, of articles, usually about writing or editing, or in some way connected to books. Many of these articles have appeared on these pages in the hope they would be of interest or would educate readers. 

Rarely, if ever, have any comments appeared. So it seems as though I am writing in a vacuum. It’s like writing a book: getting it published means that someone has read it – usually an editor or even more people in the publishing house – but then the book is published -- and I have never – even after publishing over 130 books – seen a single person reading my book that might have taken up to 12 months to write. Occasionally there are reviews so opinions are given – and publishers' sales reports indicate that the book has readers.

Writing is such a thankless job, really (though emails are responded to, and birthday cards and the occasional letter are doubtless read). 

So, not having receive many responses to all the blog entries which have appeared under this heading, I wonder what is the point of it all? 

One reads of bloggers who have hundreds – even thousands – of followers. Mummy bloggers, for instance. Women who write about fashion or dieting. It seems that writing about writing, especially writing children’s books, does not have many followers.

So, this time I’m going to leave this entry for a few weeks to see if anyone ‘out there’ is reading my blog, because if you are, I’m asking for a comment, just to let me know. If you’re there, I’ll keep on keeping on.

To finish, you might like to check out Buzz Words, an online magazine I compile twice a month (since 2006) for those in the Australian children’s book industry. Go to www.buzzwordsmagazine.com and ask for a free, obligation-free sample.