La Shawn Barber is doing some research for a project and asking bloggers (and blog readers) for their input. Here are her questions and my answers.

1) How long have you been blogging?

Four months of writing my own blog, but I’ve been lurking and infrequently commenting on blogs for several years. For me, it all started with Slashdot and went downhill from there.

2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)

Yes, it is incredibly habit-forming. Even though I’ve had a website for years, I never really posted personal thoughts on it; it served more as a test bed for me to write code – testing web development stuff and the like, more educational in nature, not informative. I started my own blog as an outlet to write about current events/things I found interesting. Prior to the election, I would get worked up about stuff and vent to my wife. Some days she would strongly encourage me to avoid reading any blogs, but I found that I couldn’t go for long without reading some blogs. And now that I have my own blog it has only gotten worse. Offline, I find that I am constantly thinking about or planning something to write about for my blog, or even worse adding “features” to it. (What can I say? I’m a programmer, and the internet is my environment.) Plus, I must be addicted because writing is hard for me – if you want code, I’m your man – but creating meaningful prose is a struggle for me, so I do it to satisfy my own personal itch; it’s just an itch I can’t ever seem to scratch.

3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?

I’ve never intentionally decided to take a break from blogging; something usually comes up that takes me away for a while. I try to post something every day, unless I’m incapacitated (sick or away from the internet – which is a sickness to me) or traveling somewhere (probably falls under being away from the internet – only I love to travel, so that compensates for the lack of the internet). So occasionally, I’ll not post, but not for long; although when I moved my blog off of Blogger, I didn’t post much while I was preparing my new site.

4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Nope; I’m having too much fun.

So go on over to her site and share your experiences. And even if you don’t participate, the comments are worth a read. Fascinating stuff.