Defining successful blogging

There's something that's been brewing in my heart, and I think the time has come for me to say it out loud.

As you know, the name of my blog is Imparting Grace, and I'm determined that the title will also be my purpose. I want to be full of grace.  I want to celebrate grace.  I do not want to be angry and huffy and unforgiving, and I'm determined not to be.  But to tell the truth, sometimes I get mad.  This is one of those times, and I think I should get this off my chest.

You know what made me mad? A statement from a blogger.  In an interview, this blogger said something like, "Some bloggers should just realize that they're never going to be successful. Sorry. We can't all be successful."

The blogger who issued that statement IS successful, and she posts about cool projects.  But you know what?  Her blog contains so many grammatical errors that I find it hard to read.  Now, even though I'm a grammar nerd, I love a conversational, not-hung-up-on-grammar kind of writing.  Besides, we all make mistakes from time to time.  No, these are mistakes that a common grammar and spelling checker should catch.  There are many bloggers who go to a lot of trouble to make sure that their posts are as error-free as they can be, even though that takes a lot of work.  I appreciate them and their respect for their readers.  Since bloggers are writers, it feels wrong to me that the example of a "successful" blogger be someone who doesn't seem to care about the use of the language.  I don't understand why that kind of blogger should have the privilege of saying to small bloggers, "You're not going to make it, so just give up."

Perhaps I should realize that I'm the intended audience for the advice of that blogger.  I've been blogging a long time, and my blog is not big or fancy or hugely popular.  But I think maybe I have something to say, and I do my best to say it well and to be a positive presence in the blogging community. And I've met a lot of "big" bloggers who are respectful and helpful and generous and genuinely nice. People like Melissa of 320 Sycamore and Kate of Censational Girl and Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick and Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage and Nester of Nesting Place and Melissa of The Inspired Room and Rhoda of Southern Hospitality and Traci of Beneath My Heart and Beth of Home Stories A to Z and many more--all of whom have huge blogs and all of whom are really kind.

So today I'm going to use my little voice and say what I believe needs to be said. If you're a blogger, you don't have to be big to be "successful." You can have a medium-sized blog or even a tiny blog and still be successful. If you want to have advertising, good for you. If you hate advertising and don't ever want to have any, good for you. If you want to change your blog design constantly, good for you. If you never want to change your blog design, good for you. If you want to write long posts with no photos, good for you.  If you want to do all your talking through photos, good for you.  The truth is that you may not have a big blog or a money-making blog, but that doesn't mean your blog is not a success.

The world of blogging has become a crowded place, but who says there's not room for one more? Producing a good blog is hard work, but if you're doing what you want to do in a way that's respectful of others, I think you're a successful blogger.

So what do you think?  How do you define success in blogging?

**I'm joining the kind and successful Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading.**