I’ve been doing interviews for the book release and I’m never prepared for the questions in spite of the fact that the questions are mainly about me, but in my defense I find myself a bit tedious (that bitch is everywhere – it’s like she’s stalking me) so I’m not usually paying attention to what I’m doing. But this week I’ve had several reporters all start with the question, “Is blogging dead?” and I’ve finally started answering with “Well if it is that makes me one hell of a necrophiliac because I’m still doing it WITH ZEST”. But then I started wondering if when these articles come out they’re just going to say: “Jenny Lawson, total weirdo, recently came out as an ardent necrophiliac. ‘I DO IT WITH ZEST’ she confessed in a recent interview.” So that’s why I’m coming out right now to say that I am NOT a fan of necrophilia for myself or for anyone else. That is my official statement. The end.
Except I guess it’s not really the end because now that I’ve brought up the question of whether blogging is dead I’m probably expected to flesh it out. Except that readers here know I never flesh anything out properly so I suppose I’m off the hook. Which is exactly what blogging is all about. It’s about writing whatever crazy shit you want to write and having some people say “YES! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE” and some say “What the shit is wrong with you?” and 99.99% of the world say nothing because they don’t know I exist. And that is blogging. And in that way it’s the same blogging that existed when I started blogging 9 years ago. There are some changes, of course. In the last 9 years some amazing bloggers have decided not to blog anymore. And sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t and sometimes they’re replaced by other amazing bloggers who write hysterical or moving or entertaining fluffy things. And that’s a very good thing.
The only thing that’s dead is the possibility of making a million bucks on blogging, which honestly never existed as an attainable goal for any of us in the first place. If you’re blogging to make a million dollars you should probably switch to something more lucrative, like…I dunno…making a sex tape. But not with a dead person. I’ve been very clear on this, y’all.
But here’s the great thing about realizing that making a mint in blogging isn’t really feasible or worthwhile…now you’re free to write whatever the shit you want to write without having to worry about brands and advertisers and alienating angry, easily-offended people who are actually really fun to alienate. And that’s why we all got into writing in the first place, right? Just me? You know what? It might be just be me. And that’s fine because every single writer writes for their own specific reason. Some of us write for a living. Some of us write for fun. Some of us write because we have no other choice because writers write always and if they aren’t blogging they’re writing a book or a journal or (if you’re anything like me) scrawling ideas of things you’re afraid you’ll forget on your arm until you can get home and jot it all down. That is what writing is about, and blogging is just one iteration of writing. Writing never dies. And thank fucking God for that.
PS. I’m incredibly lucky in that this blog is sponsored almost entirely from the awesome people in my sidebar who support my writing. They are fantastic and because of them I don’t have to inflate page views by creating annoying slideshows or unneeded page breaks or have to rent out my blog for other people’s voices or other bullshit I’m honestly far too irresponsible to do anyway. If you appreciate this then go click on them and check them out. They are fantastic and interesting and lovely and proof that the question “Is blogging dead?” isn’t really a question worth asking.
PPS. It would be nice if this question brought attention to great bloggers instead of making bloggers question what they’re doing so if you have a blogger that you love that you think needs attention, share them in the comments. There’s always room for great voices.
PPPS. I don’t have a good image for this post but this is my blog so I can post whatever picture I want. So here’s a picture of my cat’s butthole:
PPPPS. Spellcheck is trying to tell me I can’t use the word “butthole” and that I should change it to “buttonhole”. Fuck you, spellcheck. This is exactly the kind of shit I don’t have to put up with.
PPPPPS. Except I just remembered that my grandparents read this blog and so I’m including another picture of Hunter S. Thomcat with less genitals. This is for you, granny and papaw. Love you.
