Is blogging a waste of time?

Friend of mine asked, “Why do you waste your time blogging?”

I’m not sure what kind of expression registered on my face but I think I looked totally blank, stunned into a frozen posture of disbelief, not certain I heard her right.

“Did you read my early posts?” I asked.

“Yeah, I read them. You’ve got all these people living in your head, talking up a storm. But this blogging doesn’t make money, does it?”

I didn’t want to get into a philosophical discussion about the value of blogging. A quick search and she’ll find hundreds of posts about the purpose behind the blogging urge with a ton of the results focusing on how to make money with a blog.

That last part doesn’t interest me – much. Sure, I’d like people who read these pages to click on the titles I refer to now and again and buy them. But the purpose of the links is to add flavor and to point out content that will fulfill the reader’s search for related information.  

Those affiliate links aren’t going to pay my rent; hell, they won’t even pay for the pens I need to write the rent check.  

Sure, I wouldn’t mine supplementing my income from blogging revenue. Sure, I’d like readers to buy the ebook titles I’ve authored and flog here. But blogging for dollars isn’t part of the master plan.

I don’t do it for money any more than I walk two miles a day for money, any more than I pet my dog for money, any more than I spend an evening carousing the Vegas Strip with friends for money, any more than I listen to music.

Are any of those endeavors a waste of my time?

I don’t think so.



(And now for the shameless commerce part ....)