A friend and I touched on the problems of blogging last night. Well, not the problems of blogging so much as the problem of having to be careful what you write sometimes because of the people you know will read it. I agreed that this sometimes means that you repress what you are wanting to write, so that you don't upset a partcular person, prompt unwanted reactions, or let a cat out of a bag.
It would be easier to be totally anonymous and be sure that the only people who read your blog were complete strangers, but in reality we want our friends and family to read them, don't we? I have a link to my blog from my Facebook page, I want my friends to read it so a) they get to know a bit more about me and b) so that I don't have to repeat myself individually to them when they want an update or wonder how I'm feeling (it usually needs more than a 20 word status can accommodate!),
Occasionally, however, I want to vent on some subject which I would not want certain people to read, because.... well it might be an instantaneous annoyance which just needs airing to get it out of the system, which will then be taken as something more permanent; or it's a subject on which I don't want to start a long discussion but which I know that is what it will cause.
So this kind of begs the question: Why do you blog...?
I'm not currently sure of my own answer to that one, except for the obvious reason that it gets my thoughts 'down on paper' which is therapeutic.
How about you?
When I'm doing it I really like it. I enjoy gathering my thoughts and writing in sentences. But it's really hard to explain it to other people. If they don't do it or even read them, they just glaze over and have 'weirdo' written in the glaze.
ReplyDeleteI read them as a replacement for magazines. I have a list to 'follow' that are all sorts of random stuff that I have enjoyed one of and gone back for more.
It's definitely true that those who don't blog don't understand it at all. Some think it is self-absorbed and others think it is for people with no life.
ReplyDeleteI have half a dozen that I have started keeping up with; mind you that might change once I have OU studying to do ;-)
Talking of following, I have found the last couple of days that the 'unfollowing' isn't working. There are a couple which don't interest me as much as I thought, but it crashes when I try to take them off my list.
William Falkner is quoted as saying "I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it." which I was more familiar with as "I don't know what I feel until I read what I've written". Writing, for me, is my sanity. I can't bring myself to blog, as I'm far too private, but I completely understand the need to write it out in order to think it out.
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