When I’m asked why I blog, my answer usually goes something like this:

John Stepper, in his wonderful book “Working Out Loud,” suggests that blogging is an effective way to network and share information. Leading with generosity, you are actively expanding your networking by sharing your experiences and expertise. I like to write, so I began to blog. Generally speaking, I blog about technology, music and communication. I care about these things, so I write about these things. Not a lot of people read my blog, but I like to write, and I think I write pretty well. I try to do two blog articles every week, and every now and then people seem to read and respond in significant numbers. Most importantly, now when I am networking and I want to share information with someone, I have a sizable library of content I can draw from.

People wonder how I can find so much time to write. I was recently referred to as a “content mill,” which I think was a compliment. Well, I’ll take it as a compliment. Even my brother Rabbi Mark Glickman, who has written two full-length books while working as a rabbi, has wondered where I find the time.

I don’t know. I guess I find the time to blog because blogging is important to me, and over time I have developed the skills and habits that enable me to blog with regularity. Clearly, it was important to Mark that he write his two scholarly volumes while teaching classes, leading worship and managing a sacred community. If it’s important to you, if you care about it, and if you like it…whatever “it” is, you will find time.

My wife, Dr. Lynn Glickman (an incredibly busy person herself) has been blogging as well, and our approach to blogging could not be more different. My goal is to blog twice each week. Lynn’s goal is to blog when she is inspired to write. I usually write about my work, and different ways to communicate and collaborate. Lynn writes about her work, and she writes about those all too rare moments of inspiration, the gifts of beauty and learning that life gives each of us from time to time. Sometimes Lynn finds lessons that she can apply to her work as an educator and leader, sometimes she is just sharing a special experience.

I am feeling successful with my blog if I get 100 people to read what I have written. Sometimes I get more,  most times I get less. Sometimes, a blog will get a few reads every day for weeks and months in a row. I have written a total of 221 blog articles since 2016, with a total of 11,078 reads, and my blog is visited by people around the world, from Luxembourg, to India, to Iceland and beyond.

Lynn, on the other hand, has written 15 blog articles since she launched her blog site in 2018, just over a year ago. But each of those few blog articles she has written is so very special, and what a gift it is to be with Lynn when the inspiration hits. She gets a now recognizable sparkle in her eye, and immediately she goes to her computer to record her thoughts. A walk in the garden with my stepfather, a visit to a music store, an opportunity to work in the parking lot at one of her schools. There is beauty, magic and meaning everywhere.

The response to Lynn’s blogs is remarkable. People from all walks of her life find easy access to what she has written. Though the blog is about something that Lynn experienced, most readers are able to see themselves in what she has written.

If Lynn were to try to blog as often as I blog, I have no doubt that something valuable and special would be lost. Those moments of inspiration cannot be manufactured. People in her life have come to recognize that when she does write, they should find time to read what has been shared, because it will be something valuable.

If I were to try to blog as often as Lynn blogs, I fear I would lose something as well. I have created a routine and habit for myself. Blogging helps me to think through important topics, and has helped me to expand my professional circle and achieve things that are important to me.

I believe in blogging, and I believe there are many ways to blog well. In fact, you could be blogging too, and the good news is there is no wrong way to blog. Whether you blog like Lynn, and write when you have something important and valuable to share, or you blog like I do as an exercise to create a body of work, I encourage you to give it a try, in a way that works for you. You have experiences to share. You have a perspective to share. You have something important to say. You have something to blog.