I tried to write a post this morning, but the blog wouldn’t let me.

Me: What’s up with you today?

Blog: Don’t play the innocent with me …

Me: What have I done?

Blog: You take me for granted …

Me: Well, yes … I suppose I do – you are, after all, just a bunch of code designed to meet my personal publishing needs.

Blog: Thanks! You think I don’t have feelings … it’s been a whole week since I last saw you and you just turn up without so much as a by-your-leave … you feed the same old drivel into my forms and expect me to be grateful and pretend nothing has changed.

Me: ‘Drivel’ … ow … that hurts!

Blog: I could’ve been owned by Salman Rushdie, or Richard Dawkins … I could’ve been TechCrunch.com … but all I get is you and your endless social-media-this … and social-media-that … blah, blah, blah …

Me: Sorry – I didn’t realise …

Blog: If our relationship is gonna have a future, you’re gonna need to pay me more attention … I think we need blogger relations counselling …

Me: Sorry – I’ll try harder to pay you more attention in the future …

Blog: You better believe it!

————————————————

Sometimes having a blog can be a real pain in the butt!

For me, having a blog is a bit like being in a relationship. It’s definitely not something to be entered into lightly …

When you start out, you’re nervous about the dynamics of it – will I have enough to say – will I be able to keep the conversation going, will people be interested … am I about to discover I’m actually very boring?!

At first, you don’t want to give too much away, fearful of what reaction you might get – don’t want to put yourself out there for fear of rejection.

Then you finally overcome your shyness and take the plunge. The first few posts you plan meticulously, write and rewrite and then rewrite again – you think they have to be perfect.

After a couple of posts, you get a reaction – it’s quite positive. Things are going well. As you invest more time your readership gets bigger, it becomes more fulfilling and the relationship becomes more comfortable. You don’t fret over every word you publish – you settle into a comfortable companionship.

However, in the back of your mind you know that if you neglect it for a few days you start to feel guilty about letting your readers down and worry they might go off and find someone else.

Sometimes you just can’t be bothered and want to be left alone, or have other things to do … but you know it’s not just about you anymore … you have someone else to consider now … you have to make a special effort … you take a deep breath … and end up writing something like this ….