Blogging: Fun, Art or an Investment?

Having less and less time to go on the computer these days for blogging, or obtaining information, other than legal writing, it has dawned upon me to question the nature and reasons that I blog.

When I began to blog (here, used as a verb), I looked upon it as an exercise of mandatory writing, an art form, if you will, that forced me to sit down and write each and every day. As time passed, so did the meaning and the definition of my blogging experience. I met some fun people on line, gathered some interesting information, and felt as if I lived inside the Jewish community that I have lacked my entire life! The conclusion reached, however, that blogging was an investment of me, my time and my interest. It was no longer a solitary exercise to write each and every day. When a new post was created, I felt it necessary to visit so many of the interesting people I have met inside of this space. At times, my blogging hours added up to 2 or more hours per day, each day.

When my daughter became ill, I went back to blogging as a means of expressing my feelings, a kind of lamentation in an introspective form. Of course, my never-ending interest in politics, and my intense dislike of the direction the Bush administration has taken this country has remained high on the list of topics that allowed me to let out my feelings as well, a kind of therapy if you will.

Now, I have less time to engage in blogging with my new job outside of the home, and the old one still hanging on (brief writing) as well. As many can see, my writings have been a mix of personal and political issues that interest me. Today, blogging feels more like an investment, of something that I have less and less of these days, which is time.

Here is the question for the week: What does blogging do for you? When you initially started, what was your motivation? Has that changed in any way, and if so, how? Do you see blogging as an investment of some kind.

Thank you for your minds.