"Meeting People" on Blogs

Though I never thought I'd be a blogger, I have found this as a tool to write down thoughts and keep my writing skills from becoming too dusty, in case I'd ever get around to my dream hobby of writing a book.

It is interesting that when searching the internet for some ancestry information, I "met" my deceased uncle's step-grandson's wife, through her blog. We have shared some ancestry information, and I learned more about part of my uncle's life that I hadn't known earlier.

On one of the other blogs that I've been writing for a couple months, I was inspired to write a little piece about the Ten Commandments after reading about some controversial actions regarding the Ten Commandments monolith in Fargo, ND. For those that don't know me, my grandfather's cousin helped to spearhead the effort that got these monuments and other replicas placed in public places in the 1940s to 1960s. This makes the topic a piece of my family history. Anyway, a few days after I posted on the particular topic, the author of one of the pieces I linked to, commented on my blog. She is writing a book about the monoliths. Just goes to show you, you never know who is reading what you are writing.

I used to post comments frequently on an area newspaper site, and during that time, got to "know" several of the posters. After several years of posting, many of us got together at a central MN location last fall. It was fun connecting faces to the online personas. A few were surprising, but most turned out to be much like I imagined them to be. I don't post there so much anymore, just because other interests and my work have taken more of my time, but I still log in occasionally and take the pulse of political leanings, news interests, and such.

While blogging, I also run across people whom I've never met, and likely never will, but who have blogs that are interesting reads or have similar hobbies, political views, etc. I have always been a fan of biographies and real life stories, no matter how seemingly ordinary, so perhaps that is why I enjoy reading other's blogs. So to all of you reading this, keep on reading, and start a blog of your own, so I can keep on reading, as well!