Can something exist without being perceived?
An article on Wikipedia, If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear, does it create a sound? states:
“Today meta-physicians are split. According to substance theory, a substance is distinct from its properties” (the tree makes a sound and therefore exists), “while the bundle theory says an object is merely its sense data,” therefore the tree does not make a sound and therefore does not exist.
Now, my question: If one starts a blog and no one reads it, does it make a sound, does it make a difference, does it exist?
According to the substance theory, the blog is distinct from it’s properties, so regardless if anyone reads it, it does exist.
But according to the bundle there, the blog is merely its sense data, so unread, it does not exist.
When I first started blogging, my blog had no visitors, and I felt like a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear. However, deep inside I knew better. My posts were floating around in the blogosphere somewhere and were being preserved in my blog’s archives. Someday, they would be resurrected and read.
So I continued researching, writing, and posting. And slowly, my followers increased.
With practice, I will find my niche and more closely define and cater to my readers.
It will be a matter of patience and time in nearly equal proportion’s.
Patience and time.
Thank you, reader, for stopping by,
I think that a blog for a writer is more than a blog in the beginning. I think it's a place to journal, to start your writing off for the day, get your juices flowing and start to think about your platform. I love to visit blogs that offer so much more than just a daily recount of their activities.
Sooo, yes I think a blog is important to a writer even if no one ever reads it.
I agreed with Tonya Kappes… 🙂
Hi Tonya and Krislin. Blogging takes time from other activities, but as long as it keeps one writing and challenging (yes, as long as it keeps those juices flowing)I believe blogging is worth it, even if no one ever reads your words.
I think there is value in artistic creation – be it writing, painting, singing, drawing, dancing, etc – regardless of whether there is an audience. I think a piano player in a practice room playing only for him/herself is just as much an artist as a player in front of a packed Carnegie Hall. Just as a writer is still doing something valuable whether writing a blog with no audience or a New York Times Bestseller. The art of writing is as positive and healthy for the writer as it is for the reader or lack thereof.
Yet again, you've produced another piece of interest for me.
Blogging is something I've been doing for years, but off and on, and it seems that I've never been able to have one solid focus. I'm hoping that that's what The Bark Piece will provide me with – a focus – but I wonder occasionally, especially lately, if I've chosen the right focus. Have I chosen the right blog to commit to. Have I chosen something that will ultimately gain me some readers. And then I wonder, what's more important, having a blog that someone will read, or having a blog that I can look back and enjoy reading? I suppose both are of equal importance in their own unique ways, but this is the way my thought process has been going lately. Perhaps it's this intense fear of wanting to find the balance between wanting to be known/gain a following (readers, not simply people who follow along 'for the hell of it') and wanting to write something that I, too, can enjoy and be proud of that causes me to flake out of so many blogging projects.
Regardless, I, too, hope to find a balance. I am only, after all, getting back into the hang of blogging after so many months of having not blogged at all. But I, too, hope to find and define a niche.
Thank you for sharing.
Hello J. Moore. I'm still working on focus, too. My blog is about the writer's journey (mine, to be exact), but I also write about blogging and about books on craft. Yes, both apply to my journey to publication (where would I be without a blog and without books on craft?), but I wonder if I'm writing enough about MY actual journey. Is it what people want to hear? Is it too personal? And sometimes there's not a whole lot going on except for writing and rewriting and thinking and writing and rewriting. So, for now, as with you, I'm focusing on the positive things the blog brings to me, such as gaining my voice as a writer and keeping the words flowing.
That is a deep blog..But it does make sense. When I write on The Nana Blog, I hold my breath. It is picking-up steam even with my irregularities. It's always the chance you take in creating a blog, and wondering if your read. But always remember often times it read without comments. It won't be that falling tree in the forest.
I agree with the eloquent comment from Lisa. Artistic expression has value regardless if it has an audience. I write for myself but enjoy the fact it brings something for others as well.
Thank you for starting an interesting dialogue Margaret!
Very nice post. I'm more of a substance guy, myself.
Hi Lee. That's why I soooo love comments. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Just Me. So far, I think most of us agree that regardless if our blogs are read or not, artistic expression has value on its own.
Hi Doug. Love your comment! Substance definitely matters.
I totally agree. It helps you understand your voice which is very important in this industry. 🙂
Hi Pk. I agree, coming to understand your voice is an important reason to blog.
This is interesting Margaret. I agree with Tonya. I find some bloggers who write just to pour out their emotions at first..like focusing only to themselves and later on realize that they want to share more about what surrounds them to satisfy their readers since they're having fans who follow them (^__^)
Hi ladyinpurple. I think a blogger needs to include a little of both (some focus on themselves and some focus on issues to satisfy their readers), always keeping in mind why people follow them. There must be some meat in the post and something of value to their readers or they simply won't come back. It's a reality all bloggers face. People are extremely busy these days and don't have time to read and respond to the hundreds (thousands, millions) of blogs out there. That said, if a blogger is using his or her blog as an emotional outlet and having followers is not an issue, why not?
Well said, Margaret! The blog doesn't seem to be in existing because no one reads, but it still exists.
Hello Icy BC. Thanks for stopping by and confirming my blog's existance by leaving a comment.