Why do I blog?

I've traditionally saved this sort of thing for lazy Saturday mornings when my brain can't come up with anything new to talk about--but I'm going to post a couple of re-runs today.

My husband and I attend daily Mass together this morning.  Afterward, as I was brewing the first of my three or four Keurig cups of coffee in anticipation of sitting down to hit my trusty keyboard with caffeine-enhanced enthusiasm, I was thinking about the whole blogging business and wondering why I almost look at it as some sort of job I need to do each day (or as close to each day as possible).  And then in my travels through my blogging dashboard page, as I scrolled through the list of previously published post titles absent-mindedly, hoping for a burst of writing inspiration, I came across a very old post, written when I'd only been at it about two months, and I thought I'd re-post it today.  (Note that I mention in this post that blogging is a great activity for a "frustrated novelist"; at the time, I was still keeping Finding Grace, which I'd been working on for almost four years at that point, a secret from everyone but my husband, my boys, and my daughter-in-law--who was one of the first people I allowed to read the entire manuscript when it was still a work in progress.  It was my way of giving a sneaky little hint about what I was up to.)  This post titled "Getting All Blogged Down" really does explain pretty well what motivates me to keep on bloggin'.

There's another post on the topic called  "Permanent Records" that I wrote a lot later in the game.  It was published just this past June, after my blog had celebrated its second anniversary.  It, too, gives a pretty good explanation for why I find blogging such an appealing and meaningful exercise.

So many people blog nowadays, it has become a topic for comedians and cartoonists to joke about.

And I get that.  Why in the world would anyone care what I have to say about anything, anyway?  I'm not famous.  I'm not an expert on anything.  As a mother to five grown sons, I have some experience to share--but even when it comes to that, there are blogging moms out there who've raised/are raising a whole lot more kids than I, and they have a more entertaining and/or inspirational way of expressing themselves when they talk about it.

And yet I sit down and type up an essay nearly every day.  I must do it.  I must write.  It's hard to explain.

I took a little break there, to read a few of my favorite blogs.  And I was tickled to see that my young friend Kate, who has a beautiful blog called Something Ivory, posted a thoughtful and insightful essay on the topic of blogging/writing today.  Kate is so eloquent and lovely--I think of her as the Grace Kelly of the blogging world--and she explains very well what motivates most of us blogger-types.  If you haven't read Kate's blog before, you should give it a look-see.

Why do I blog?  I don't know exactly...but I know that if I quit, my husband would miss my ramblings, especially when his job as an airline pilot takes him far from me and I can't talk his ear off in person.  (I don't talk off many ears--but his, I do.)

So...if you're a blogger and you're reading this, tell me: why do you blog?  Is it for the pure joy of writing?  Are you trying to preserve memories of your family's special moments for posterity?  Do you write mainly for yourself, your family, and your friends, or do you hope to reach a wider audience?  Are you a fellow Catholic who uses your blog as a forum to evangelize about our beautiful Faith?

I'm just curious.  (And I also love it when I get a comment or two.  Smiley face emoticon.)