I’ve had blogs of one kind or another since I was a preteen wistfully suffering from incurable crushes on fictional characters. I believe (and I may be mistaken, because from where I’m standing now this all seems like a long time ago in a galaxy far away) that my very first blog was a short-lived LiveJournal to which I posted casual reviews of books, movies, and the like. But then again, I’m not sure if that came before or after my Lord of the Rings fansite Hobbit Havens, a now-defunct labor of love from the days when GeoCities websites with cheap graphics were still a thing.

The point is, I’ve been up to blogging-like shenanigans for a pretty long time now. And yet I still find myself questioning what the true purpose of an author blog actually is, or at least what it should be in an ideal world.

Is it for sharing updates?

Sometimes. While social media might be more apt for sharing quick, in-the-moment news and announcements (like that time I spazzed out when The Harbinger’s Head was first published), authors big and small all seem to take advantage of their blogspace now and then to connect with their readers and by bringing them up to speed on things like progress (or lack thereof) on a new project, special events, sales on previously published works, and more.

Personally, I tend to shy away from posting smaller, more personal updates (e.g. “I wrote THIS many words today!”) simply because, though it may be exciting to me, I’m not sure it makes for very compelling reading material. But I have considered using this space more often for fun stuff like convention stories, NaNoWriMo updates, or deep dives into recent and current projects.

Is it for sharing knowledge?

In a way. I know my posts thus far have certainly had a copywriting slant to them (probably since I spend so much time doing actual copywriting and editing for my day job). It’s an especially useful tactic for authors like Jane Friedman, who write about writing, blogging, and the business of it all.

But what about authors who don’t write about “how to” and focus mainly on fiction? How helpful is it for someone like me—someone who mostly just wants to make up stories for people to read and enjoy—to maintain an author blog filled with things like self-care tips for writers or the potential writing lessons hidden in ice-dancing routines? I have enjoyed writing posts like these, and I’m not sure I’d want to give it up entirely. I do like to think someone, somewhere, finds them useful. But there is another option yet to consider…

Is it for sharing stories?

Now that I’ve come to it, I think this is the one question to which the answer—or at least my answer—is always “yes.” Pretty much anything can be told in the context of a story if you do it right. But for authors especially, I think a blog should be nothing but stories—about your craft, about your experiences, and of course, about your works.

I’d like to do more of this with my own author blog in the future. Not just narrative introductions to listicles and “how to” posts, but spinning yarns, weaving narrative webs on the widest web of them all for your entertainment and my enjoyment. It’s in my username, after all—heck, it’s in my website URL. I am, first and foremost, a storyteller. So maybe that’s what I should be focusing on. Telling stories.

So what’s the purpose of an author blog?

To tell the author’s story? Perhaps it really is as simple as that. Or perhaps it’s one of those things you don’t know until you get to the end—then, when you look back, everything suddenly comes into focus, and you wonder how you didn’t see the pattern of it all along.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m no expert, on writing or on much of anything else, really. I’m certainly no J.R.R. Tolkien or Jane Austen. Some days, the only thing I know with any real conviction is that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. But maybe that’s what makes the writer’s life so appealing. It’s a journey without a final destination; an adventure without a map. Mostly, it’s an ongoing experiment. And maybe that’s exactly what this blog is—an ongoing experiment investigating the art of storytelling even as its author engages in the act of it.

Then again, maybe it’s just a place for you and I to enjoy a good ramble. To my readers, I thank you for your company. And to my fellow writers—ramble on, my friends.