Winehiker Witiculture


Why do I blog, anyway? Is it all just about mememe?

question mark

In true viral blogger fashion, Ev Nucci, the Wacky Mom of the My Life is Murphy’s Law blog, reached out across the wacky blogosphere to play tag with me. And now I’m “it”.

This tagging thing is an interesting phenomenon. It’s a kind of pay it forward (unsolicited payback?) type of deal wherein, once tagged by a blogging predecessor, you in turn post about a topic preselected by some original blogger presumably interested in meme generation (i.e., traffic). Upon posting your response to the meme, you get pesky (or viral, depending on your attitude at the time) by tagging five bloggers of your own choosing, tasking them with responding in like fashion to your tag.

Often these memes consist of a top five approach; late last year I’d been tagged to present Five Things You Don’t Know About Me. That particular post was a fairly easy one to write, and it brought some traffic with it. However, today’s meme appears more difficult since it requires some fundamental introspection. This meme raises the question: Why do I blog?

Now I could just consider memes a waste of my time and ignore them. But I see memes, and especially this particular meme, as an opportunity to return to the basics. Quite honestly, I know I should periodically choose to review the reasons why I blog almost everyday, squeeze my mental grapes, stoke the fire burning inside. And therefore this meme delivers a very worthwhile question. I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to tell me if I’ve delivered five worthwhile responses to it.

But first, a digression: just what the heck is a meme, anyway? The Modern Language Association’s Jargon File defines it thusly:

meme
/meem/ n. [coined by analogy with 'gene', by Richard Dawkins] An idea considered as a replicator, esp. with the connotation that memes parasitize people into propagating them much as viruses do. Used esp. in the phrase ‘meme complex’ denoting a group of mutually supporting memes that form an organized belief system, such as a religion. This lexicon is an (epidemiological) vector of the ‘hacker subculture’ meme complex; each entry might be considered a meme. However, ‘meme’ is often misused to mean ‘meme complex’. Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits. Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons.

Unhh! This definition is a train wreck in progress. It’s so complex, so heavy, that I can’t even attempt to lift it. So much for digression (and jargon, for gawd sakes); back (quickly, please!) to the matter at hand: why, indeed, do I blog?

  1. I initially created Winehiker Witiculture as an online business tool. I wanted to draw interested readers to my business, a commercial tour company that I call California Wine Hikes.
  2. I am a technical writer by profession, yet my extracurricular passions are hiking and wine tasting. I originally wanted to write about these two passions with a creativity that would balance the more rigid writing constructs required of my career. One can’t possibly write about wine and hiking with the dry poker face of a technocrat. At least this winehiker can’t. Or won’t.
  3. A blog is, simply put, a living online journal. However, its interactive nature, as well as its tracking and reporting mechanisms, have allowed me to share my daily thoughts with the greater world. I don’t necessarily require ego strokes every day, but it sure feels good when thoughtful readers respond to the things I write. I’ve now actually hiked, camped, and saluted an untold number of 750ml dead soldiers with some of my readers.
  4. Little could I suspect that writing this blog would open a number of doors to the wine world for me. I have now corresponded, met, and sipped wine with a number of California winemakers, some of whom have made extraordinary gestures. Whether they have written about me or invited me to be a member of their exclusive wine clubs, I am grateful for their attention, and I’ll continue to reciprocate as only a blogger can. After all, I love wine, and I love sharing the healthy and hearty wine experiences that winemakers and winehikers can have together.
  5. I have believed that writing regularly and creatively could help me be a better writer. Sometimes I succeed at this; other times I’m just a hackneyed hack with a less-than-heartfelt homily. But whatever I believe about myself, I’m noticing that others enjoy reading my scribbles, and that’s reason enough for me to keep on keepin’ on down this blogging trail.

And now, the tag envelope, please. Will the following bloggers please come forward and respond to the question, Why do you blog?

Thank y’all in advance! I’m sure you’ll appreciate the mental exercise.

~winehiker

Related posts:

9 Responses to “Why do I blog, anyway? Is it all just about mememe?”

  1. Wine Life Today
    April 12th, 2007 12:36
    1

    Why do I blog, anyway? Is it all just about mememe?…

    I could just consider memes a waste of my time and ignore them. But I see memes, and especially today’s particular meme, as an opportunity to return to the basics. Quite honestly, I know I should periodically choose to review the reasons why I blog al…

  2. why do I blog?
    April 13th, 2007 06:55
    2

    [...] Russ Beebe, Founder of the California Wine Hikes site – is known on the intertubes as The Wine Hiker. (Drink in his wine hiking blog.) [...]

  3. Wine Outlook » Blog Archive » Martella Wine Promo
    April 14th, 2007 08:53
    3

    [...] Martella Wine Promo April 14th, 2007 by Farley I have what I hope to be an inspiring response to a recent tag floating around in my head, but since I’ve been swamped at work and with writing and rewriting my wine column, it hasn’t actually materialized. [...]

  4. Wine Outlook » Blog Archive » Why Do We Do the Things We Do?
    April 15th, 2007 12:29
    4

    [...] Why Do We Do the Things We Do? April 15th, 2007 by Farley When the Winehiker hit me with my first meme, I thought I had kinda answered the question “Why do I blog?” a few months ago with this post. Except that didn’t really explain why I got started initially. [...]

  5. winehiker
    April 17th, 2007 15:58
    5

    Yikes! Look at all the trackbacks!! :P

    Well, this whole meme-tag has generated some really great downline posts. Check out why Farley, Sonadora, and Dr. Debs are so active at writing their blogs, too.

  6. Gambollin' Man
    April 28th, 2007 17:53
    6

    I write therefore I blog. I hike therefore I blog. I blog therefore I hike and write. I’ve always been an “old-fashioned” journal-keeper – chicken scrawl thoughts big and small in bound empty-page books, 30 of them, going back to 1972. The electronic virtual medium of the blogosphere is a natural evolution of getting the word out! I hope that my narrative / photo postings are entertaining, compelling, poetically rambling, lyrically gambolling!

  7. Winehiker Witiculture
    November 7th, 2007 10:29
    7

    [...] I’ve previously answered the question, Why do I blog? And yet while some days are harder than others to gather creative focus, there always seem to be new reasons to continue blogging. It’s quite thrilling, then, when somebody – somebody who’s connected – sits up and takes notice of what you do in your spare time and finds it worth sharing with a wider audience. [...]

  8. Winehiker Witiculture » If you have wine, why hike?
    February 24th, 2009 04:18
    8

    [...] week or so ago, when I was fiddling around with the latest meme, Why do I blog?, one of my fellow hiking bloggers, a decent chap named Rick McCharles, fired back his own query. [...]

  9. “Five Reason Friday” links » winehiker witiculture
    March 13th, 2009 08:32
    9

    [...] Why do I blog, anyway? Is it all just about mememe? The Top 10 Most Popular Restaurant Wines [...]

Leave a Reply


Join the winehiker on any of
23 tours
currently scheduled!
(see below in this column)

Subscribe to the Winehiker Witiculture feed. It's as easy as walking - or tasting wine!
Become a fan of California Wine Hikes on Facebook and save $$ on our tours!

» winehiker witiculture
» californiawinehikes.com
» fun winehiking tours to do
» blogs that link here
» how to link to this blog
» winehiker's youtube channel
» about the winehiker
» contact the winehiker

California Wine Hikes

Get the winehiker’s free wine scoring sheet!





PALATE PRESS: The Online Wine Magazine

got wine?

Help my readers discover it. The winehiker also accepts gear and books for review, too.

subscribe to this blog

Here are three easy ways to let Winehiker Witiculture come to you:

» Enter your email address to receive Winehiker Witiculture in your inbox:



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

» Read Winehiker Witiculture in the popular Bloglines news reader:

Subscribe to this blog with the Bloglines feed reader
(What is Bloglines?
What is RSS?)

» Grab the FeedBurner feed for any news reader:

Powered by FeedBurner

winehiker recommends

The following items are "must-haves" for winehikers everywhere.



If you enjoy this blog, click below to cast your daily vote!

See where Winehiker Witiculture stacks up, Chicago-style, against other wine bloggers.


New!
The Itsy Bitsy Spider game!

stumble this blog (but not while winehiking!)
stumble this blog


winehiking fun, just ahead!

single-day guided tours

Midsummer Swim & Winehike
Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Coastal Cliffs & Falls of Marin
Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Romp through the Redwoods
Saturday, September 26th, 2010

multi-day guided tours

Elephant Seals, Fir Forests & Fine Wine Tasting
February 13-14, 2011

Paso Robles & The Santa Lucia Range
February 20-24, 2011

York Mountain & Edna Valley Hiker’s Paradise
June 5-9, 2011

If the above tours don't fit your schedule, then check out my custom group tours and mini-tours.



Visitors since
December 7, 2005


Add Winehiker Witiculture to your list of favorite blogs on Technorati.com


California Wine Hikes
View My Public Stats on MyBlogLog.com
Business Directory for Sunnyvale, California
Travel Blogs - Blog Top Sites
BlogBurst.com
Travel Blogs - Blog Rankings

My Green Electronics

vote for the winehiker
on alawine.com's Top 50


Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike badge