To Blog or not to Blog?

[youngncruisin]

So what we ended up doing was creating a website that had a blog page on it. Still looking for ways to make it all more interactive.

Sailing * Twinspire - Introduction

[maryc]

I've been blogging about our adventure on and off for the past 5 years. Initially it was to keep family and friends informed, but what I found is that it's a great way for me to remember what we've done. I personally enjoy reading back over things we did in the past, especially when we've had a difficult passage, or some terrible repair work to do. It helps me remember all the good things we've enjoyed over the years.

And yes, I think that sometimes it helps other sailors too. So even if you don't blog, make sure you keep a great diary. You'll be happy you did.

Good luck,

Mary
s/v Glass Slipper
Voyage of the Glass Slipper - About

[conachair]

Originally Posted by maryc

So even if you don't blog, make sure you keep a great diary. You'll be happy you did.

Also having your GPS tracks in Google maps is a nice way to relive a passage. From memory I download from the GPS onto a computer using a free GPS prog (forget the name), this saves the track as a gpx file. Load this into opencpn route manager and export as a kml file then in my maps in your Google account upload the kml file. Can be set to private or public.

[NornaBiron]

I blog, but I'm reeeeeaaaaalllllly bad at keeping it up to date! Most of our family don't bother to read it and it's written for them so I don't have the best motivation. Facebook is much more successful for us.

[OneofSix]

Some of my family do NOT do FaceBook. At all. For all sorts of reasons. I am thinking a blog would/could be read by all folks whether they be on FB or not.

Have to say FB is easier because of short bursts of info uploaded. Blogs don't need to be complicated. Some are. Some not.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by gcaskew

I say write the blog, you never know, someone you never know may read it and love it and come up and say hello in some far away harbour.

If you don't like reading someone's blog don't read it, but don't tell them don't write it our ask what's the point. I and thousands of other people my love reading it.

Just my .02

What is boring or stupid to one person may be just the thing someone else needed to hear. And you don't have any insight into why people write, who they write for, or what they gain from the activity of writing. Maybe they write about themselves because the audience they are writing for is interested in them as people, as well as what they might be doing. (News flash, it might not be intended for YOU.)

I always appreciate reading other people's viewpoints. I read a variety of blogs based on what I am interested in at the moment, what information I need, what life experience I am in the midst of, or where I am headed that someone else has already been. And what I am interested in at THIS moment may have absolutely no interest for me a week, month or year from now.

I blog. It's a lot about boats, a little about teardrop campers and even less about what I had for dinner (although sometimes that's in there too). I delete posts often when they become boring even to me. My blog started for my daughter and grandkids, who live on the other side of the country. Sending email isn't always practical, especially when you want to share pictures because most email accounts limit on the size of attachments. I got tired of sending 15 emails just so I could share our vacation pictures. We have friends who follow us, and we follow them, and share our interests.

Eventually I want to transition my blog from just an everyday random blog to a more focused cruising journal. And if the only persons who ever look at it are my family it will still be worth it. They can still share our lives, know we're safe, keep track of our location and know how we're feeling. Hopefully they will be happy to see us living our dream. The dream that they all grew up listening to us talk about and plan. And I hope that there will be a very special kid looking at it saying, "Wow....my Nana and Papa really know how to have a good time. I want to go sailing with them sometime."