While browsing the Web, I came across the post How to Change Lives with Your Words: A Writer’s Higher Calling by Marcus Sharidan, where he asked one simple question…

Why do you blog?

After stopping to think about it for a moment, I thought about my past and what this blog once was – how it shaped and transformed into what it is today. I thought about my past mistakes, the peak moments in my life, and the people I’ve met along the way in my blogging career. I thought about my goals and what I hoped this blog would become.

Then I thought about all of you and how you helped this blog grow.

You see, it all started back in college. I was a freshman at WCSU – one of those public universities in Connecticut – and I was in the living area heating up a bowl of spicy noodles for dinner. While making my food, I was on the phone talking to my boyfriend (nothing new), and I was agonizing over the fact that I had no job and needed money.

Somehow, blogging came up and he suggested that I start a blog. At the time, blogs were a new concept for me. Strangely, I didn’t know any blogs (didn’t read much of them), and I had no clue what I would write about if I ever did start a blog.

Confusion, Bewilderment, and Chasing My Own Tail

I thought about it as I watched my food circle around and around in the microwave. I was a pretty hardcore gamer at the time, so I thought about maybe blogging about video games. However, Damon didn’t like that idea as he reasoned that there were already many sites on video games, so it would be hard for my blog to get noticed.

I contemplated blogging some more, but eventually pushed the idea aside – after all, why would anyone care about what I had to say? If I did start a blog, no one would read it…

Or so I thought.

Months passed, and I joined a site called eHow near the summer of that year. I started writing eHow articles and ended up writing over 100 before I stopped. Money did trickle in, but I wasn’t very happy with the results – the whole summer I had slaved away, writing article after article, with only $50 a month to show for it. But I was also optimistic (as I always tend to be) and just kept on writing with the hopes that my income would continue to grow. I also liked the idea of earning residual income without any additional work on my end.

Getting sick of how to articles, I stopped writing for eHow then and started looking for other income opportunities – happy that I continued to earn money from the site and amazed that my income seemed to grow and grow month after month without me having to do anything.

My First Attempt

I thought of blogging once more… what would I write about? I asked my boyfriend for suggestions but, like me, he had no clue either. Without any ideas, I again pushed the thought aside for another few days until, one morning, I jumped out of bed with a topic idea clear in my mind and registered a blog on blogger.com (after carefully choosing a blog name with my boyfriend’s help). The blog was called Salad Sticks, and it was a health and lifestyle blog.

I decorated Salad Sticks with Adsense ads and continued blogging for several months, writing over 50 posts for the blog before I stopped. The income coming in was only a trickle (about $1 a week), and I managed to make $30 on Adsense when all was said and done.

Gradually, I started moving on to other things until I simply stopped writing for Salad Sticks altogether. My heart wasn’t really into the topic I chose, and it became a chore writing about health when I had no interest in the subject. After realizing the reason for Salad Stick’s downfall, I created another blog – this time about finance – which I hoped would help encourage me to reach my income goals.

Cash Campfire was Ignited

While I’m sure I probably talked about this story before, I want to get this off my chest now because, honestly, in the beginning money was one of the main reasons why I created this blog. Now, I know this will come across badly in some people’s eyes – but I want to be honest. I did write for a profit back in the early months of blogging (but rest assured – I barely made a cent).

The other main reason why I created Cash Campfire was to motivate me to work harder to build an online income by talking about my goals and aspirations here. Honestly, I didn’t think Cash Campfire would grow to be much – I just simply blogged to motivate myself to write and earn more money.

But over time, my view began to change. I always made sure that my posts were useful if anything else. And other people began to appreciate the work that I did here, ask me questions, and contribute to the community in such a way that I thought… what if I was wrong? What if this blog does become something more, and not just a blog where I come here to share my thoughts on financial freedom?

The Transformation

I began to help people via email to get their writing career up and running. After the Demand Studios series, most people came to me for help with getting accepted to write for Demand Studios. What was once a finance blog then became a freelance writing haven – and I loved it. I loved every moment of writing about writing and helping those around me enhance their writing, get accepted for writing gigs, and simply create a lucrative income writing about what they love.

I won’t forget the time I first got an email from a reader thanking me and saying that she took my advice, her resume was accepted, and she was hired as a new writer for Demand Studios. Her excitement in that email glowed.

After reading that message, I just couldn’t help but feel good about myself and what I do. I could almost feel a bright shining light tickling my core, making the entire room several shades brighter than usual. The same thought repeated in my head – my advice worked; I was able to help another writer!

With a giddy feeling in my stomach, I immediately told my boyfriend about it. After all that time searching, I had finally found a purpose – I wanted to help as many aspiring writers as possible achieve their goals and ambitions.

This blog became so much more than it was. It became a community, where writers could share their thoughts, goals, and dreams. It became the center of everything that I held dear. Through this blog, I acquired the keys that would unlock a whole network of opportunities, to achieve my dreams and to help others do the same.

This blog became the foundation for my future. I just needed to keep building, keep sharing, and keep writing. Every morning became a morning of excitement. The growth of the blog itself was slow, but I loved every moment of its growth – every moment of building. There wasn’t anything else I wanted to do. Blogging took a big chunk of my heart – more than I thought possible. I was home when I was here. I knew what I wanted to do, I had a vivid plan on how to get there, and I knew that everything I once thought improbable was now possible.

Why Do You Blog?

I blog to help aspiring writers reach their dreams – to collaborate, share, and enjoy. I blog to watch writers and entrepreneurs succeed, to watch them grow as a result of my advice and guidance – to see their excitement of advancing and the overflowing happiness the results had given them. That’s all I could ever want, and that’s the greatest gift any blogger can receive – just simply knowing that your advice works. That you are making a difference.

I blog because it simply gives me pleasure. I love to write and, if I stop writing for too long, my days turn dark and murky. Writing gives me that fuel I need to keep going. Blogging gives me something to do with my time and puts the fun into my everyday life. Looking back, I never did imagine that I would ever get so far. But now looking forward, I can only imagine how much further this exciting career will take me.

I blog to build a presence. I want to be heard in the crowd, and my blog allows me to do that. By building a presence, I open the doors to tons of opportunities that were otherwise hidden from me. Call it selfish, but it makes me feel like I’m part of the worldwide community – that I’m contributing to the world in a way that matters. This connection is what fuels me to keep going – there’s so many people I have left to meet, so many hidden surprises I have left to discover.

I blog to meet people. Being a writer is a lonely existence – though I don’t complain much. I like the solitude I find in my office. However, through my blog, I also meet so many new individuals each and every day, with different backgrounds, opinions, and thoughts. I love the chance to collaborate with other bloggers, help others through email, and simply read the comments I get every day on my blog.

I blog for the future. One day I’ll be able to move into my own home and start a family. When that day comes, I’ll be able to work close to my kids and husband. I won’t have to worry about daycare or even a baby sitter. I’d be there to watch my children grow, spending as much time as possible with them as I can.

So, those are my reasons. Call them what you will – but they make blogging worth it in the end.

Why do you blog?

And if you don’t have a blog, why not?