If you had to choose between being able to write a blog (but not read others’) and being able to read others’ blogs (but not write your own), which would you pick? Why?
~*~
Hmmm … such an interesting question to which I have only one answer: as a free spirit I do not succumb to such ultimatums.
You see, to me, one is not without the other.
My writing influences the blogs I read; the blogs I read influence, to one degree or another, my own writing and its presentation.
It’s give and take.
One could argue that books and magazines are an excellent alternate (and traditional) source of information … and they are. My senses still revel in the allure of a beautifully bound and printed book, and I have several on the go as I write.
The beauty of the blog, however, is it’s short format and the fact that I can interact with the author and share experiences based on common ground. For instance, I don’t feel so alone in my equestrian travails when I can read another horse person’s online account of having successfully managed an injury to her equine partner while I am in the midst of managing, and writing about, something similar. It gives me hope.
This kind of interaction expands my experience of the issue in an entirely different way than, say, reading about the injury in a clinical book and taking a stab at it. I love books, but I also love the accessibility and camaraderie inherent in the blog.
As well, my world is limitless when I can see it through the eyes of other blog writers with such immediacy.
And, writing from my own experience and imagination is cathartic and life-affirming. And, as a writer, I must write … and I must read!
Cornering me into making a decision about which I should give up for the sake of the other is not fair, nor is it realistic. All the great writers say you must read! read! read! in order to write! write! write!
Who am I to argue?
So you see, I will give up neither.
Thanks for visiting …
Dorothy 🙂
©Dorothy Chiotti … Aimwell CreativeWorks 2015
Shedding Light on the Family Tree 
Dear Dorothy,
Like your perspective and your thoughts. Looking forward to reading more.
I love the community blogging offers as well. 🙂
Absolutely! Blogging, reading, and writing are the perfect recipe for human connection. They’ve enhanced my literary experience feed my spirit and help to make me a better writer
Right on! So how could a person possibly separate them? 😳
Gotta have both. There is the encouragement of knowing that what you’ve written will be read by others and the things you learn and enjoy when reading other blogs. The give and take enrich the whole.
Amen to that! 🙂