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| Photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg |
I read a little
while ago on Michael Hyatt's blog that
he found he sometimes didn't know how he felt about a particular topic until he
blogged about it (unfortunately I can't find the specific post...sorry!). I thought that was interesting and it raised some questions
in my mind.
Questions like:
do we blog because we know about something or do we blog because we want to
know about something?
Questions like:
do we blog to teach others or do we blog to teach ourselves?
After some
thought, I like to think that I came up with an answer because for me at least,
the answer is both.
Truth is, I've
learned just as much from blogging as I hope you have from reading my posts.
Writing blog posts—from creating
better villains to the usefulness
of tumblr for writers—forces me to sit down and think about the topic until
I can think about it clearly enough to share with you—my amazing readers.
In essence, I've
come to realize that blogging is just as educational for the blogger as it is
for the reader.
But I have a
feeling I'm not the only one who's come to this conclusion, and I want to hear
from you guys.
DISCUSSION: For
those of you who blog, would you say that you’ve learned from your blogging
experience? For those of you who don’t, would you say you’ve learned from
reading blogs?
25 comments:
There is no question about how much I have learned. I continue to amazed at the tool of blogging. I never would have gotten this far or considered myself a serious writer without blogging. It has been worth every moment.
I didn't really think about it until you mentioned it, but come to think of it, blogging certainly has done more for my confidence than I ever thought it will. Agreed--definitely worth every moment. :)
Most of the time my intention to blog is to learn something. Like the other day I thought I was pregnant with my IUD still in, so I did a bit research about it and then blog about it to share my findings to my readers. It is also a great learning tool to enhance my writing skill.
Putting thoughts on paper or words on the computer screen helps me learn more about the topic. Blogging also creates a sense of community and fosters discussion. I've definitely learned as much I've "taught".
The community is yet another perk of blogging I didn't anticipate when I first started. Building relationships with other bloggers and with your readers is a key part of the process and certainly a large part of what makes blogging worthwhile.
I don't have a blog (yet) but I've done a weekly newsletter for the last six years and I have a large and highly engaged readership. I've noticed that my readers frequently have questions that would NEVER HAVE OCCURRED TO ME! (Sorry for shouting - but this astonished me. As a former journalist, I thought I was pretty good as figuring out what readers wanted.) Furthermore, these questions have deepened my own understanding of any particular issue.
It's been delightful to me to learn so much more about my topic (writing & editing) thanks to questions from my readers. I will be launching a blog within the month.
Great post! I think one of the biggest surprises to me when I started blogging was finding out that stuff I thought was self-evident, frequently wasn't -- even to me, once I started thinking about it. I think it's the same reason my old history professor used to require blue book exams and term papers -- writing about a topic forces you to engage with the material and go beyond rote recitation.
I've written more than one post because of questions that readers brought up that truthfully, just hadn't occurred to me. I love when something that one of my readers say forces me to stop and think.
Good luck with your blog launch!
I really love that last line there: "writing about a topic forces you to engage with the material and go beyond rote recitation." That's exactly what blogging does--it really forces you to sit down and think about whatever you're writing about, which, I've found, has been extraordinarily helpful.
I'd like to say I"m some great teacher but really what comes out on my blog is what's going on behind the scenes with me: what I"m learning about, thinking about. Bloggin def. helps process it all.
Processing--yes, that's a good way to put it. My posts come out pretty much the same way--whatever I post about is what I'm thinking or trying to learn about at that time, and getting it down in a post really helps me pin it down.
I think blogs are fantastic and you can learn so much from getting your thoughts down in posts and reading what other people had to say. Your last post about being a writer was so encouraging for me.
I actually gave you an award on my blog this morning. I always love what you have to share :)
http://melissapearl.blogspot.co.nz/
Thanks, Melissa! I really appreciate the thought and I'm happy to hear you found my last post encouraging. :)
William Faulkner said, "I never know what I think about something until I've read what I've written on it"
We think in snippets and rapid dissociated bursts of thought. Getting them all out and ordered through writing can clarify and summarize your thinking as you edit and refine what you mean.
I definitely learn a lot from writing blog posts. It forces me to think out a problem in a way that keeps all the strings in my hand. :-)
I learn. I'm forced to create. I struggle to make it organized and coherent, in my thoughts as well as on the screen. All around, blogging wins. Which is part of why I'm addicted to it. :)
I really like that Faulkner quote and I've certainly found that sometimes I feel the same way. Reading over one of my old posts can be just as helpful as writing it was.
Thinking out a problem and putting your thoughts down on paper (or the screen, as the case may be) is a fantastic way to learn, which is largely why blogging is so helpful. :)
I love the habits that blogging forces me to stay into--habits like writing consistently and thinking--really thinking about ways I can improve my writing or things going on in the publishing world. I have to agree--blogging definitely wins. :)
Oh, my goodness, yes! I have come to completely different conclusions on issues that I've blogged about after I'm written posts, because writing the post forces me to think through the issue. I've certainly discovered much about not only myself, but about those around me, as well, through blogging.
It has been my experience that as long as you enjoy it, blogging is beneficial for everyone involved. :)
Reading this blog entry, I couldn't help remembering a favorite book, and an idea I've held as true for a long time:
"You teach best, what you most need to learn." - Richard Bach, "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah"
I'm a new writer, aiming for publication later this year. I've chosen fiction, but does the above idea, if it's true, mean that all writers are teachers? (I think so...)
Hmmmm. I'm not sure I agree with that quote, necessarily. I agree that you can learn from teaching things, but I think you need to have a relatively solid foundation in something before you can teach it (at least, teach it accurately, that is).
That being said, I've definitely learned a lot through blogging, and I think by writing down my thoughts, I've helped clarify some things in my head, which was a form of teaching myself? But I wouldn't be able to write a post about something I knew nothing about. So hopefully that makes sense...
I was just about to defend the idea, using personal examples. For researching my (first) science fiction novel, I "most need to learn" calculus and orbital mechanics , and a bit of sociology, anthropology and psychology.....
... I couldn't teach any of those ahead of learning them.
So would we agree in a revised maxim? "Teaching and learning are a two way connection."?
- Dave (who learning something in this)
I definitely think it can work both ways, so yes! I agree. I think teaching forces us to get a much better understanding of whatever foundations we had to start with, so it can be a great tool for reinforcement.
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