A Meta Blog Moment ~ Blog Types and Why People Write Them

I never do this...just open up the new post box and start typing without a clue as to what I will be entering.

Have you have ever mentioned that you have a BLOG to someone who  has not ventured into the "Blog-o-sphere" and you see the eyes glaze over and the lips form the word as if it might dirty up their mouth a bit..."a blog?"

Why do we share what we share? BLOGS... Some are very specific and generous and it seems obvious...there is much to share.  It got me thinking about all the different kinds of blog categories that I have encountered.  It also made me think about how my own two blogs can't be tightly categorized themselves.

I  began making a list...hmm...maybe I should sort these approximately alphabetically so I don't hurt any one's feelings.  Obviously I am not going to even think of all the types, let alone write them down.  And of course there are some "types" of blogs that I just rush right over, like stepping over the leavings of a stray dog, trying not to even break stride while employing full caution.


To the list then and my annotated comments and a few referrals  to blogs that might illustrate my point.  Incomplete, partial and biased though it may be, please remember, I do take comments and you can tell me what I have left out.  And I ask you now, as Daniel Webster did when he finished  his first dictionary, please notice how much I have managed thus far to  include.


*Arts and Crafts  There is an amazing amount of sewing,  painting and creating going on. Sometimes I am inspired and sometimes am so impressed I just marvel.  I have seen tutorials that are flat out designed to teach from A to Z.  I have shared a few things I have made, mostly just to join in the fun.
*Book reviews Books take time, steer me to the best ones.  I have written up a few reviews.  I actually find it helpful in terms of thinking through the reading.  I am grateful for good reviews I have read from others.
*Cooking There are a lot folks prowling the web looking for recipes for meals that make themselves while the cook is surfing.  However, there are a  lot of real cooks  blogging and sharing their skill and the joy of feeding people good food.  I have shared a recipe or two and I must say in my behalf that I try not to be a bad influence.  Kale and chard, not chocolate, have been my public focus.  ( You do know by now that  I am not a tell-all kind of person.)
*Creative Writing The art and craft of writing...well...a wise author knows one has to be careful posting work in progress because if it is good, it just might get clipped and shared, copyright be d**ned...but writing about writing lives large. 

*Farming  I love your horses and chickens and goats  and donkeys and all the other animals that don't live at my house right now.  I still have a dog, two cats and do live amidst the wild wanderers, so a few animals make occasional appearances in my blog land.
*Families   Bloggers have uncommonly cute children...( please don't spoil them.) And consider not printing  out their full name and birth dates and all too... did you notice one of the recent apprehended possible spies was using the name and birth records of a child who had died at 6 months of age? Also think about how you will feel when your little ones are larger and ask you in very convincing terms to please just take all posts involving their potty training down now or else.  But the interactions and support and wisdom sharing that does go on via the family blogs is something to behold. 
*Gardening I  enjoy seeing what others are growing and what they are learning about the primal struggle known as gardening.  Recently a woman asked me what we have in our greenhouse and after naming a few of our lovely plants, I added "and lots of mealy bugs."  She had a solution, another "bug" commonly called  "mealy bug destroyers."   We got some expensive little Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, and if they work, well, I am sure that either I or my husband will blog a bit about  them. 
*Health & Well Being I am thinking of starting a new blog...about the need to add ourselves to our list of doctors....self-doctoring.   My first piece of advice will be based on how we too need to observe the  Hippocratic Oath: "First do no harm." It is really the best way to take care of ourselves and often the hardest with which to comply.
*Journey Logs... classic journals that document climbing mountains, sailing the seas, touring foreign lands. I have seen lovely photos of places I am unlikely to ever visit, painstakingly documented by people I will never know...amazing...thank you.
*Personal Journey Spiritual Blogs There are a lot of encouragers on the web.
*Movies  Movies old and new pop up in blogs. I find myself reading a blog in India and laughing about old American movies.  This link could very easily also been in the stream of consciousness section, if you read any of him you will understand why.
*Music  I haven't added any music to my blogs...and I often leave my speakers off so if you have music on yours I may not have heard it, unless that is obviously what your blog is all about.  But as I sit at the computer, live music is all about me...so...I am listening!

*Nature blogs I live on the Pacific Coast 

  and I try to share it photographically with you frequently, but I am not as good about it as some of the bloggers I've been reading.  One man in Yosemite posts almost every day.

*(Get) Organized Blogs You know, like how to get your kit together. People sit down at their computers and start realizing they don't want to end up on the next televised production of "Hoarders" and so they blog about purposing to get organized and get rid of things they don't need or use. Oh, and then there is talk about UFOs  that means, I think, unfinished objects...projects that are haunting one's psyche.  Confessing UFOs on a blog moves the project  up to a higher level  of priority and completion then not only gives one something to photograph and blog about it sets one free for new creations.  The thing is, this actually seems to work.  Folks that blog seem to be getting more things done.

*Photography...the pictures I have seen...thank you all. And there are even those who would teach us how to use cameras and photo editing programs more effectively. 
*Political Blogs  It was Will  Rogers who said   "On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does."  but  I better let you find your own political blogs...people tend to get hot over this stuff.  Wasn't it G. K. Chesterton who said something like: It's good to get into hot water, it keeps you clean. Okay so over on Write Purpose I  speak up a little about politics.  I try to be diplomatic...or is it that I try to get all the curved lines in focus knowing that I won't be able to straighten them out?
*Special Interest Blogs Thanks to this blogger, I have seen lighthouses all over the world...straightforward and a truly special "special interest."
*Stream of Consciousness Blogs Hey, I am trying today (well, thank last night for this really, that's when I typed up most of it, but I felt enough concern for you all that I didn't post until ( wait, I still haven't posted it, so we will have to wait and see if and when that happens.  I am obviously a firm believer in giving myself permission...never mind that is another story, back to my blog about blogs. (And if you had an English teacher who told you that if you have to use parenthesises there may be a better, more elegant and comprehensible way to say whatever you are trying to say, he or she was right...but that too is another story.)  

*Stream of Unconsciousness Blogs   Enough said.
*Technology  A type of blog where I might go for help, but you are unlikely to find me writing one that would be of any help.
*What I did today blogs Clearly for obvious reasons, some people can pull this off better than others.  I mean, by all means, it might help all of us to write down what we did on any specific day, but some of  it clearly is not, shall we say,  fit for human consumption.
* What I wish I did today blogs  no cheese down that tube
*What I should do tomorrow blogs this could have some promise
*What you should do tomorrow blogs Ah, thanks...I think.

*All the kind of blogs I have left out unintentionally or otherwise blogs
*And then...blogs about blogging ...is this a Meta blog?
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I warned you it would be incomplete....the day is calling. Look what Mark just brought in from the garden:

Now should I just press post?  Or should I struggle back here soon and find all the photos that would so delightfully augment this?...Later! We need to go for a little drive and pick up the mail.  And when should I find all the "typos" and "thinkos"?  I better not post this yet.....