Substitute the word 'write' for the verb 'blog' and see if it makes any difference to you. Productivity is not the end-all be-all of existence. ;)

Touch? ;)

nice answer! :)

I recently started a blog as a way of keeping in touch with long-distance friends (I emigrated from the UK). The theory is that I won't have to send as many emails when friends ask what I'm up to. The practice may be different ;)

I don't think utility is often a factor for a typical personal blog. It's a method of self-expression; arguably a self-indulgence. Blogs that focus on a subject rather than a person, such as 43Folders, are a different matter.

If I ever get to have a blog, I want it to be as useless as possible. But I know me too well, and I'm pretty sure I'll start posting the first couple of days and then on I'll just live it to die. I have left all over the web traces of these trials. Would be fun if anyone could find them. :)

I know what you mean! Enthusiasm then burnout ;) Had several abandoned Livejournals, always started with good intentions...and unfortunately the net is very good at keeping a record of our dilettantism...

I admit I feel obliged to post sometimes. Which is a bit odd - it's not productive, it's not required, and I don't really consider the blog as part of my real life.

Guess it's similar the situation another poster described on the board - feeling obliged to pursue hobbies even though they're supposed to be just that.

Aha, and what have I been doing for the last couple of hours? Setting up a blog. :) I just have to tell myself that I shouldn't been wasting my time doing X and next thing I'm doing compulsively and obsessively is precisely that. Why can't be the same with useful work? :)

Assuming you're being a responsible human being and citizen in most arenas, I'm w/ Robert?I don't think there's anything wrong with doing something that has no immediate, quantifiable "benefit", including keeping a blog (disclaimer: I'm a blogger, myself).

The difficulty with classifying something as "useful" and other things as "fun" or "total waste of time" is that often, we can't see the utility of whatever diversion is obsessing us. Again, I'm taking an all-else-in-order viewpoint here: to fiddle away with blogging if you've starving, shoeless children clamoring for hotdogs and slippers is just plain irresponsible. But who's to say this passion you're following won't teach you something about yourself, or that someone who randomly stumbles upon it could be cheered in a time needful of cheer, or [other happy result here].

One of the tricks to enjoying one's diversions, up to and including the point where they become socially acceptable, financially or otherwise justifiable ventures, is to allot a certain amount of time for them and hew to it like a motherf**ker. This is where the groovy time hacks come into play: your timers, your scheduling, your chartage, your GTD.

To me, all the organizing is about making time for fun. I mean, all of my work is my fun, even the non-paying stuff, so I'm always looking to streamline the system.

I blog for myself - I enjoy it. Chances are if you enjoy it, then other people will too - why not share?

I did blog about this a few months ago though as well.. which as I read it now is quite amusing.. "7 reasons to blog"

Yes, my blog engine and template suck.
I know.
I'm gonna change it one of these days.. real soon now. Really.

Actually, on that topic, anyone got any good blog engine comparison links?

As a matter of fact, I started one over the week-end after realizing my webhost had now a scrypt ready-to-install. I'm not a technical person at all, shame on me, and secondly, English is not my mother tongue. But what the hell, I'll give it a try. Here's the link to my very-empty-for-now blog. I hope to be able to add more meat around it. Looks too minimalistic right now.

Glad you enjoyed it Laura. (ricki lake audience voice)Go Laura, go Laura..!
Don't worry about English being your 2nd language - the more you output / play with the language, the better you'll get.. really.That opinion is based on studying Japanese for around 2000 hours as well as some Applied Linguistics classes I took at university..

Don't be afraid - play with the language. Write fake TV scripts, photojournalism, whatever. Write about what you enjoy - it's easier.. There's no reason why what you write on your blog has to be 100% truthful .. nothing wrong with playful information warfare, deception, use of disinformation.. ;)

For an interesting blog by someone interested in the 'ppresentation of self in mediated social contexts to an unknown audience' check out Danah Boyd's apophenia: making connections where none previously existed

From Danah's "who the hell is Danah blurb":

My name is danah boyd and i'm a Ph.D. student at SIMS - UC Berkeley and a Researcher at Yahoo! Research Berkeley. I'm interested in how people negotiate their presentation of self in mediated social contexts to an unknown audience. I study emergent social technologies that incorporate social networks, identity representation, sharing and performance (Friendster, blogging, IM...). I focus heavily on youth culture. This blog offers some of the random things that go through my mind as well as things that fascinate me.