Web Logging

or Blogging for short. An activity that is sweeping the globe, replacing diaries and personal journals. Today, just about everyone has a blog. You can find one on literally any topic you want. But what happens when you've got good ideas or just plain mental garbage that you'd like to put out into the Blogosphere community but you just don't know where to start? Good news! There's a new book for you.

Blogger extraordinaire Arianna Huffington (huffingtonpost.com) has just published a new book entitled "The Complete Guide to Blogging." In it, she puts forth delineated, enumerated sequences by which someone interested in getting into the act can follow. With a new blog appeared world-wide every half second, the book outlines how the the people NOT contributing to the approximately 175,000 new blogs per day can join the Blogosphere. Believe it or not, tip number one is NOT to "google" the topic of "how to start a blog," but rather the deeply profound and insightful tip of "Blog your passions." The chapter then goes into more detail about WHICH passions to blog: your "obvious" passions, and your "hidden" passions.

Although I was able to start this blog with a little initiative and the finger agility that was necessary to typed the keyboard in the correct sequence, I could see how the sale of the book could be useful to some people, people like Arianna Huffington. But even to someone like me without real passions who already has a blog and who manages to crank out 3 to 4 posts a week, the book appears to offer something useful. Theirin contained within the pages are not only the "obvious" things needed to blog, but also the "hidden" tricks needed for a "successful" blog.

Now we're getting somewhere. What IS a successful blog? What do bloggers expect to get out of their efforts? Some do it for money. Some do it for attention. Some do it for entertainment. Some do it for pleasure. Some do it to share their vision with the world. Some do it because they have no job and don't feel like getting dressed. Some do it merely for a personal catharsis.

For me, I'm not as interested in drawing such a large readership, but rather do it for more personal reasons. I've kept a written journal much of my life, and an online blog is great, cheap way to keep everything in one place. The fact that others may view my writing has certainly shaped the topics and the way in which I write, but it still serves the same purpose: a purging of emotions and a forced session of introspection and creativity through hyperbolic writing (NO, my son is not REALLY getting a tattoo.) The fact that two people read this blog is a delightful bonus, and I do enjoy reading the occasional comment left and the interactive repartee. Anything that gets me thinking and laughing or gets others thinking and laughing is worth it in and of itself. After all, our family credo is "learn a lot, love a lot, laugh a lot." Blogging a lot seems to help me personally accomplish those three, although my wife really dislikes my "love" of the computer at times.

So information is a powerful thing, and how-to books have been immensely popular as more and more do-it-yourselfers begin to do things for themselves. If you're blogging for profit and want your blog site to get thousands of hits each day, then Huffington's book may be for you. I hope you have valuable passions to share. If you're interested in rewiring you house, then I suggest foregoing the Time/Life book on electricity and hire a licensed professional to do it. But if you are interested in just hammering a few keys at the computer to put down some of your own thoughts for your own sanity, enjoyment, or as a way of having "real" conversations with your wife remotely, then just go to www.blogspot.com, wait for a half-second interval, and create your own web log--clothing optional!