Sometimes Writing a Blog is Hard
By sovknight | May 1, 2008
I don’t mean coming up with topics or filling space. Lord knows that I have to consciously slam on the brakes every time I write a new piece at some point, otherwise I’ll drone on and on for thousands and thousands of words and my readers will lose interest. I’m a wordy fellow, and I just can’t help it. And as far as topics are concerned, they just sort of hit me out of the blue for the most part. No, I don’t have issues with that.
What I mean to say is that having a public blog means putting your opinions out there for the whole world to see. This also means that your close friends and family can read them, and sometimes that’s not necessarily a good thing. I care about my friends and I value them more than anything, and I fret all the time that I might say something to offend one of them, but I bite the bullet and type it anyway. You just gotta, you know?
Case in point: My recent blog on Miley Cyrus. I’m fully aware that my thoughts on the matter are in the extreme minority. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. I mean, the girl wears dresses to award shows and costumes in her concerts that show a hell of a lot more skin than that picture. Yet they have no issues about it then. No… wait, I’m not going back into that. My point is that you can’t be afraid to say what you have to say and worry constantly about the consequences later. You have to be able to think it through before you hit that “publish” button, because once you do, it’s out there in cyberspace and you can’t take it back.
I don’t swear in real life. Honestly, I’m not sure why. I have nothing against swear words or any words for that matter. I’m not religious, and I believe words themselves are not good or bad… it’s the context in which you use them that gives them their quality. I do swear occasionally in writing though, and I worry sometimes that friends or family might take offense at it. After all, why am I different online than I am in person? I use these words in writing for emphasis, which, by the way, is the whole point of swear words. I think they have more power in writing than they do in speech, and I communicate better with the written word. I suppose you could say that the “real” me is the one writing the words, and not always the person standing in front of you talking. I don’t swear in speech because I was simply raised that way, I suppose. My written persona is somehow different.
It’s hard when you write something in which you know people will take an opposition. It takes guts to put something out there that could possibly offend someone you know or care about. Still, our views are what makes us who we are, and you can’t sugar coat what you really feel. Not everyone agrees on everything, and even those closest to you can have a completely opposite view. Actually, I think that can be a healthy thing. After all, why would you want to hang out with people who constantly agree with you and have no opinions of their own?
If you don’t take risks, then you’ll never succeed. If you don’t throw yourself out there and offer something different, something maybe no one else has thought of, then you’ll just be a face in the crowd. My thoughts and ideas aren’t always popular, but they are uniquely mine. Who wants to be a face in the crowd? Not me.
Topics: Thoughts |
2 Responses to “Sometimes Writing a Blog is Hard”
Comments
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May 1st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I know what you mean, you take a bit of a risk by keeping a public blog if you don’t censor yourself very much. When I kept my blog on myspace, and only my friends knew about it (and most of them didn’t read it), I felt completely uninhibited about what I wrote. Now that I have my own domain and my family knows about and occasionally reads my blog, however, I am more careful about what I say. But even so, I want my blog to be a place where I can be honest and open. I do censor myself a bit more than I would like, but for the most part, I’m pretty candid, and I find that very relieving. Like, I don’t mind talking about my hatred of hobos, or the history of my love life — things that can paint me as a bigot or an idiot! But they are all part of me, and I don’t want to deny that. My blog is a place to be myself as publicly as I dare. That’s not to say I don’t keep some things to myself. That’s what private journals are for, though. I laugh when people say “I don’t write my blog for you guys, I write it for myself!” Yeah, maybe you write it for yourself a little bit, but you know you like the audience, otherwise why wouldn’t you just keep a private offline journal?
Anyway, I think I digress… the point is, it’s ok to publicize your opinions, even if they are minority ones. Maybe especially if they are minority ones. Don’t apologize for them. But just keep your brain on and don’t get dogmatic about your opinions. People ought to always reconsider what they think, it’s healthy. That’s why it’s good that we are comfortable telling each other when we disagree.
No more fret.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 am
My rule of thumb is as long as you can deal with the hate mail that may come your way, go ahead and blog it. As far as offending my friends I do that on a daily basis in life and online so they are used to it. Though I won’t write anything I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying out loud among friends.