It’s my turn to answer the question I posed, What is a personal blog? and I doubt anyone will be surprised by my answer. Some people might have an immediate negative reaction to that statement: The idea “Art” has a lot of baggage. It might seem elitist, it might seem like hubris, it might even seem daunting, but for any of you struggling to make connections between some of the advice written for bloggers and the work (Yes, work!) you do, I think that you will come close to something you can hold on to by considering yourself an artist. Or, at a minimum, an apprentice artist. 
Reading through all the responses to my question, there were a number of common threads. One of the strongest was how indefinable a personal blog actually is, that it was unique to each individual, to each blog, subjective and without limitation. I agree. The same can be said of Art.
Another idea was that it was a place of exploration, somewhere to express the things that are often left unsaid in life, somewhere you can develop your understanding of yourself and of the world. The same can be said of Art.
Others thought that it was a way of communicating and connecting on a different level, one where you are able to both reveal and learn things you otherwise wouldn’t. The same can be said of Art.
It doesn’t matter whether your definition of Art is the Sistine Chapel or Piss Christ, a ragged piece of embroidery or a cartoon. In fact, whatever your subjective definition is, that bias is probably present in your blog whether you are aware of it or not. To be honest, I could write an entire book on all the comparisons that can (and in my opinion, should) be made, but I won’t belabour that point because I have a greater one.
Viewing personal blogging as an artform is functional. It can help you develop as a blogger.
There is so much brilliant advice out there about blogging, and it does apply to personal blogs, but the majority of that advice is about understanding the medium, like learning the technical aspects of using watercolours or writing poetry. When it comes to purpose, however, a personal blog (whether comedic and light-hearted or dark and philosophical) exists for the same reasons Art does so there are answers to be found there as well.
In many ways Art is about learning the rules and then breaking them in order to create something new; to make us experience the world in new ways, to stimulate our mind and our emotions, to comfort us or challenge us or inspire us. Personal blogs, even the ones that appear on the surface to be mundane, do all those things for all the same reasons.
So I want to examine both parts of the whole.
About The Guest Blogger
My name is Mark Clain. I support the effective adoption of new technologies or ways of working within writing by communicating complex information in an informative and inspiring way. My texts are varied – some of them are technical, requiring in-depth instruction, others are educational on Studymoose educational blog. I’m fond of writing articles for students, helping with essays.
