though not as existential as ‘what is the purpose of life?’, when i read this question – “what’s the purpose of a blog?” – in our website email i admit to sitting and staring at it for awhile. good question.

since you are reading this, you must find some value in a blog. somehow it must resonate with you. something we are saying must find a spot to linger a moment in your mind or heart. or maybe we are dear to each other and you are staying in touch – albeit virtually – with what’s going on in our lives. maybe we have never met but you are walking this path of living for this period of time with me, with us. i’m not sure why you have clicked on this, but i am curious and, mostly, i am grateful.

this is part of what i wrote back to the question:

“we originally published our mutual website and blogs as a way to draw attention to our varied artistries.  david is a painter and writer and i – well, you know.“ (the question was posed by a person who was quite instrumental with encouragement for my first full-length original solo piano album.)  “but i was also doing a lot of writing (the written word) and we developed several cartoons and products.  it was a mélange of artistic mediums, hence the name – the mélange.

as you know, being an artist presents many challenges, not the least of which is to earn money.  people turn to the arts for sustenance, for comfort, for reassurance, for insight, to celebrate their bliss.  but, as in the music world, for example, that is often derived via “free” formats…formats that pay the artists little to nothing:  spotify, pandora, apple music etc.  in an effort to hold true to our artistries, our site – developed a few years ago – combined all of what we do under the bigger umbrella of ‘the arts’ and put it out there. 

theoretically, the purpose of a blog is to draw attention to product, to establish credibility, to perhaps be inspiring, to share thoughts, to form a community, to connect with like and not like-minded people, to ask questions, to drive engagement, to repurpose old content that still has life to live. 

our blogs are read in over 80 countries – according to the stats.  it’s a delight to see that anyone at all is reading what i or david have to say.  even better is when they share content – outside our concentric circle – that means something to them or respond because something we said or posted or generated resonated with them.

many artists (and others) blog or vlog (video blog) now.  they include ways to help support them.  in our case, we have a BuyMeACoffee link (that’s the QR code on the blog pages) which is like a tip-jar website.  others have patreon which is a subscription to which people can sign up and regularly support the continuing creating of artists whose work they value.  it is simply an effort to continue to be artists in a financial world that doesn’t value artists in a financial way.   sigh.  with the encouragement of others, we will likely open a patreon account one of these days. 

david and i sit and write each morning together.  we choose images for the week and post them.  then we sit – side by side with our laptops – and write our blogposts, not peeking or sharing until we are done.  this process is truly meaningful to us and brings great joy as we read what the image has brought up for each of us – often quite different.  david is much more esoteric than i am and my blogposts are usually thready, really from the heart.  it’s a good balance, particularly in relationship.”

so, what’s the purpose?

the person who posed this question is an actuary. i suspect that a blog seems somewhat frivolous to them, maybe even out of the realm of pragmatic, certainly not sustaining or financially rewarding. and – though having millions of followers or subscribers could be very lucrative – i suppose all those other points could be true. and yet, there is this imperative we both feel – to write – that we answer, each and every day. it’s both the blessing and the curse of being an artist.

i can’t imagine that there are readers who read each and every of our six-days-a-week postings. but to think that someone in a different US time zone, in africa, in south america, in the EU or indonesia or the middle east or australia or canada or ukraine is sitting with coffee and taking time to read my words is humbling. it’s how i feel about listeners spinning my music. the same. humbling. shy of being in the same room with me or having some kind of live exchange or sharing time together, my music and my words are the closest you can get to me, to what i am thinking or feeling, questions i am trying to answer, the way i parse out what it means to live. it is relationship on the relationship target circle – the circle a couple circles in, where you are not only acknowledging existence, but you are paying attention, responding, even if silently. 

we don’t know what would happen if we stopped writing. all of sudden – boom! – full stop! we don’t know if there are those people who would miss these ramblings. we don’t know if there are those people who might just notice, a tad regretfully, our blogs were no longer there. we do know there are those people who would never even know we were gone. it’s a funny thing. and as an artist you must be careful not to let ego and its attention-seeking behavior stand in your way. you just keep on. until you stop. and then, because imperative is – after all – imperative, you do something else. artistry is a living and breathing thing.

i hardly think that the words i write are gloriously wise or the smidgiest-bit funny or new thoughts in an old universe. i just know they are uniquely mine and, for some crazy reason, i am open to being vulnerable enough to share them. 

maybe one day you and i will have a conversation about this. and you might be able to tell me what the purpose is of writing a blog.

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this MERELY-A-THOUGHT MONDAY

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