In the comment section of the “It’s About Time” post, Tom Volkar life coach and author of Delightful Work brought it up again.

I think it all comes down to purpose and perspective. First why are you blogging? For what purpose and are you meeting that objective?…

He’s right.

It seems many of us start blogs, but don’t know why we continue them? And if we do go on, it’s like walking through a maze. We make twists, turns, and sometimes go backwards. We don’t know what’s at the exit or how to get there.

And in the process we may either lose sight of our objective or realize we never had one.

Today’s Lesson

When I started blogging I had two objectives. One was to make money online and the second was to share knowledge with others.

I remember asking myself, “Why?”

To the money part, my answer was (in part) “to add additional income to our household”.

And to the second part, I answered, “With what I’ve learned through the years (and continue to learn), a blog would be a great medium to share with others and maybe make their life a little easier.”

I feel I continually meet the “sharing knowledge” part of my goal, however, making money online had became a non issue. After all, what I get from blogging is priceless.

But, after blogging for two and a half years, I’ve regrouped and am revisiting the make money online objective.

With the blogging knowledge I’ve accumulated plus the reputation I’ve built online, it’s now time for me to “go for the gold” with my blogging endeavors.

No. It does not mean I’ll be tacking flashing ads to this site, nor will I be begging anyone to buy something from me.

What I’m doing instead is setting up an additional site on which I will offer a fee based service (plus more).

Unfortunately I’m not ready to unveil my new project yet, but that’s not what’s important today.

What is important is that we all ask ourselves the questions Tom has suggested.

Today’s Assignment

Why are YOU blogging?

What is your agenda? What is the PURPOSE that drives you to sit in front of your computer screen and publish posts? To visit other blogs? To leave comments? To renew your blog subscription?

Is your blog fulfilling your objective?

If not, might it be time to take a hard look at where you are, where your blog is headed and possibly ________(fill in the blank)?

I’ve shared my story and I’d love to hear yours.

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Photo Credit: Tim Green aka atoach

When I searched online for “what are bloggers”, this is what I found,

Blogger : a person who keeps and updates a blog

Considering all we do, I found that to be pretty nondescript, and in some ways almost like an insult.

Now, if all I did was listen to the news, I would think bloggers are far left/far right wing radicals who trash political figures in the name of “first amendment rights”, with no concern of legal ramifications.

However, where I travel in blogosphere I land on pages like this one titled, Morning Muse: Writers Block, Pass the Windex written by Davina.

Feeling virtuous for being here this morning at this time, yet the writing reflects no virtuosity. Inspiration interrupted and dead to appreciation, I’m awash with writer’s block.

Discontentment creates unwelcome impressions on the snowy white page before me. Polluted thoughts cast shadows over inspiration….

Knowing I landed on a blog, my first thought is, “She’s more than a “blogger. Davina is what I would call a “writer”.”

Today’s Lesson

So, what is a blogger?

Is a blogger a writer? Is a blogger someone who goes online to freely voice their opinion? Is a blogger a blend of many things? And, can we be a blogger, but not be a “writer”?

Although I’ve written hundreds of letters (both personal and business), wrote speeches for corporate executives, dozens of paragraphs in employee manuals, enjoy putting pen to paper and have been told I have a gift for the written word, I’ve never considered myself to be a “writer”.

My definition of a writer is someone who knows how to tell a tale by keeping us captivated with each word, leaving us with a longing for more.

When I blog, I don’t write to captivate my audience, but instead I write to share knowledge. And, knowing many will scan my writings/lessons, I’m more concerned with getting to the point than spinning a yarn.

Confused as to how I would define myself, I checked how Wikipedia defines a writer. Here’s what they say:

Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.

Although Wikipedia is not the best source for definitions, I found this one to be so broad, my grandchildren would be classified as writers.

Digging a little further, I looked at two other examples.

Journalist

A journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren’t biased.

Reporter

A reporter is a type of journalist who researches and presents information in certain types of mass media.

Since journalists and reporters attempt to be unbiased, even though bloggers “gather and disseminate information”, many bloggers are quite opinionated so even those definitions might not apply.

So what are we?

Are we writers who blog? Biased journalists and/or reporters? Left or right wing radicals/non-radicals who practice our first amendment rights?

Or are we just bloggers – “people who keep and update blogs”?

I don’t know about you, but I know I’m more than that.

Today’s Assignment

If you had to define what a blogger is, what would you say?

What do you call yourself? A blogger? A writer? A journalist? Or something else?

Raise your hand, share your thoughts and let’s see if we can come up with a better definition of what a blogger is.

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