It's All About YOU!

I figured out something today about blogs. For blog writers, the blog really starts out to be all about me. It's a way to be able to dump feelings out on paper and process them and for some reason having the whole world have access to them makes a writer more accountable to actually journal. Web Log is where the term came from -- a personal log for people to journal their lives.

But along the way somewhere, when you start to acquire some readers, it becomes all about them somehow. They read the blog and follow it if they are amused, entertained, challenged, or can feel "normal." Another reason is to feel good about your own life by reading about someone's who is worse than yours. But the bottom line is that it is all about the people who read the blog.

And so, for example, yesterday when I posted my exciting achievements -- getting the book cover and the website done, and asking people to preorder -- that was all about me. And, typically, I was just waiting to hear rave reviews and people get all excited when really, the whole thing was about me.... not them.... People only get excited about a blog post if it meets a need they have. I'm the same way.

I have chosen, however, over the years, to try to not think much about who might be reading my blog because that will make me censor things that might be helpful to others. And that means that when I'm not thinking about you, and not making this about you, then my life may not be exciting enough for some of you. ;-)

A wonderful friend and mentor of mine who is a college professor and preacher (he actually married us) sent me an email this week about how his life has been going and he said this ... which cracked me up.

"Wow, this email is all about me. Let's talk about you now. So, how do YOU feel about me?"

Keep reminding me in subtle or not so sublte ways that I need to write things that are helpful to my readers because even though my blog is all about me, it's really all about you.

And now, because it is tradition, let me remind you that is my task in the next 30 minutes to get 7 kids ages 12-17 out the door for church. At this point, none of them are awake.