Why I Blog

This month my podcast co-hosts and I posted our 75th podcast episode. We happened to do so during the month of our launch—and it’s been six years! Happy 6-year anniversary to the Music Therapy Round Table podcast!

February is also an anniversary for the Maven blog, which I started exactly one year prior to the podcast. That’s right…the Music Therapy Maven blog is now 7 years old!!

This blog started off on a bit of a whim as I re-entered the workforce following my second maternity leave. After a few years, it began to feel legit, like I had actually created something with a little value.

I’ve also been in the game long enough that I get asked about blogging by those who just started or are interested in starting a blog. I’m quite honest about some aspects of it—it won’t make you rich and it won’t make you famous (we aren’t exactly in the fashion or beauty worlds). And I always tell those who ask that the key to success as a blogger is consistency. It’s making a commitment to writing and posting regularly.

Which is apparently what I’ve done now for the past 7 years. I don’t always post often (in my early days, I strove to post two articles a week. These days I’m lucky to get in two a month!). But I do always post.

That then begs the question…why? Why commit? Why keep it up? Why blog?

It’s for these…these are the reasons why I blog:

• It provides an outlet through which to share the musings and ruminations that occupy my mind while driving, showering, and walking (yes, those are the times when I think).
• It starts conversations…in the online and offline worlds.
• I enjoy writing (this particular point was a bit of a surprise to me. Who knew?!).
• It fulfills a need and desire I have to teach and share.
• It connects me to music therapists and non-music therapists in the US and around the world.
• I enjoy the challenge of expressing complex thoughts in a clear, accessible way.
• I am able to share the views, perspectives, and thoughts of others (like I did here and here).
• Every once in awhile I get complimented and thanked for an article I posted. A single bit of acknowledgement like that helps me keep going another year.

So now I’m curious…this question I pose to my fellow music therapy and non-music therapy bloggers: why do YOU blog?

Tagged as: blog, blogging, writing