Something is Shifting
October 22, 2008There is something in the air, something shifting in this little corner of the universe called Blogland (Blogville? Blogania?) A lot of questioning, examining, exposing, exploring. What is it for? How authentic is this community and how real are the stories we share? Why does it so often end up feeling like high school? I have seen this discussion on a number of blogs as of late and I’ve had it with many friends. As uncomfortable as it can be to shine a light on the less pleasant aspects of this community, I always believe that any conversation aimed at honesty and seeking the truth is a productive, healthy thing.
That is my intention in sharing some of my stories and opinions here – to contribute to the discussion that is already in progress, in a way that I hope is a meaningful. I am here to tell the truth…not to judge, gripe, wallow or criticize…but to honestly share my experiences in this sometimes peculiar world.
This is basically a brain dump of snippets from my blogging experience, in no particular order of importance.
I feel like a bit of an oddball blogger, like I don’t fit neatly into any particular kind of category, hardship, struggle or journey. My purpose for keeping a blog is to seek the truth, explore my questions and share my journey in a way I hope is inspiring to others. I must admit that I believe if I struggled more in any number of ways, I would probably have a wider audience. Having said that, I actually have no idea what my stats are. I can’t remember the last time I checked them – oh wait, it was actually a few weeks ago, because I was trying to track traffic from a recent first try at advertising on another website. I am sitting here trying to remember the numbers on the stats list and I am drawing a complete blank. In a nutshell, I don’t care about stats. I don’t blog to be popular.
I am pretty terrible at keeping up with other blogs, and I have rather prickly feelings about the obligation to leave a comment just because I’ve stopped by. I am a lurker most of the time. If I had all the time in the world I could probably make blog reading a full time job, as there are so many out there with interesting stories, discussions, images and explorations. But I get overwhelmed fairly easily by the sheer volume of blogs, so I tend to stick to very few regular reads.
See the list of blogs under “Community” in the right hand column of this blog? There are at least a dozen – no, probably two dozen – other blogs that I am also familiar with, have heard of or otherwise know about but have not added to my list. This is not because I am trying to leave anyone out, but because – and this relates to my previous comment – I just feel like all the linking and connectiong has to end somewhere. I sometimes worry about how people will interpret this, this not being on the list. Will they think I am trying to intentionally leave them out? I start having these guilt-driven thoughts, and it makes me feel very small.
If anyone reading this believes I have not been made to feel left out, excluded or not cool enough for the cool crowd, you are very much mistaken. I have felt all of these things from people I put my trust in, and it has not been fun, to say the least. These experiences have inspired me to pull away completely and distrust everyone. My work there is to not allow that current to pull me too far out to sea, so far that I’m disconnected from everyone. They have made me feel taken for granted and like a total sucker, as if I somehow got pulled into someone’s tractor beam and wanted so much to believe in the possibilities of our connection that I didn’t see the truth of what our relationship really was (which may not necessarily have been bad, but not as geunine as I thought it was.)
In my quest to believe the best story I could believe and my fierce desire for a meaningful creative community, I have, at times, allowed myself to get tugged along much further than I should have allowed. It is not in my nature to be overly-cautious or mistrusting, but I am learning that I need to pay much closer attention to my intuition in these situations. There are many tiny details that are the source of the truth, and it is all too easy to ignore them when rawer emotions take over. This is a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again in my life, in the blogging world and beyond.
I have found some of my dearest friends through blogging, and have always trusted that I will meet the people I am supposed to meet in person. I have never tried to force a face-to-face meeting; when it has happened it has always been an organic process. After an intense, mind-blowingly beautiful connection with three fellow bloggers about a year ago, my view of the blogging community was dripping in pixie dust and I began to cast my net far and wide. Now, many months later, I am starting to see the cracks and the mud, the less pretty sides of this world. I have had a pendulum swing in one twelve-month period, and I think I’m basically back where I was before this gathering last year, in a bit of a love/hate relationship with blogging. I am feeling more reserved, more hesitant, more careful about reaching out too much. I’m choosing not to place any judgement on this, but to allow it to play out the way it needs to play out, and to trust that I will eventually find my way to a place of balance. Beneath any hurt feelings and disappointments, I believe this is a powerful, beautiful community that has created a lot of joy and goodness in the world. I believe this with all of my heart.
The last comment I will make has to do with my own particular voice in this world. As I said, I don’t know what my stats are but I can tell you they aren’t earth shatteringly huge. Still, I know I have a certain readership and know that audience is building because of my book (thank you!) and I feel a huge sense of responsibility around that, a responsibility I am honored to have. I will always try my hardest to share my journey in an authentic way, to share the joys as well as the struggles, the beauty as well as the frustrations. At the end of the day, no one is putting a gun to my head and forcing me to expose myself in this way, and I believe it is my job – my duty – to hold myself accountable to what I write about and claim to live by in my blog.
I can explain my intention this way: if someone is reading my blog, and then we meet in person, I want that person to recognize me face to face. In other words, I want that person to see the same person in the flesh as they see here in words and pictures. This is different from the need to feel seen; this is about wanting my blog and my self to be in alignment. This blog holds me accountable, and that just might be my favorite thing about keeping a blog. In aiming to write and share authentic stories about my life from a place of integrity, I find my way to like-minded souls and hopefully add a little extra sparkle to the world along the way. If I create a powerful, positive story in this space, I damn well better have the actual experience to back it up. Anything less is totally without meaning.
I am so appreciative of the honest voices out there that are offering a more well-rounded view of this community, warts and all (this one and this one are creating some interesting discussions.) Even though it is almost November, it feels a bit like spring cleaning, and I have faith this discussion has the potential to lead us all somewhere pos
itive.
Thoughts?
I’m blown away Christine. I long for the day when I could have the opportunity to sit down with you over a cup of good tea or coffee, or a glass or two of wine and just talk, face to face.
I hear so much of what you are saying and I echo it. I blog because I think I have something to say or to share. I look for inspiration where I read and I hope I leave inspiration for others. It’s not about “popularity” or sales in my etsy shop or who likes me…it’s about as you said so well, being “real”. Authentic and true.
When we are disappointed by friends and relationships it makes us cautious (or it should). It should also make us look inside, re-evaluate what we want and what we project and then figure out how to carry on..not to be defined by other people or our experiences but by who we truly are.
I value every post I have read here — and I am late to your party, but my gosh I feel blessed when I come here to read what you have to share.
so many thoughts… wow. i know you know i can relate on many levels and you may have inspired a blog post of my own that has been asking to come out.
off to collect thoughts…
love you… and the suicide bunnies ; )
xo
Even though I was only rather briefly into blogging personally, I have always loved your blog and love to enjoy it as my day gets going before work! (Your writing goes well with a cup of hot cocoa, btw.)I know my best friend and I were both surprised at some of the high school-like cliqueiness that occurs among some bloggies, with one person even going so far as to take my dear friend off her blogroll list because she didn’t comment on her posts. Overall, I will say that I have honestly been somewhat disheartened or disappointed with female bloggers this last six months. I feel like reading many blogs we would never know that one of the most important elections of our time is about to occur. To me, this is such an important election, particularly for women and children, with healthcare and abortion rights again hanging in the balance. Sometimes I feel like bloggers don’t want to write about it because they are afraid of alienating their readership. That, or just feel like they want to focus on other things, which is okay, its just hard for me to understand because these issues for me trump all other things between now and Nov 4. Laini is one of the few bloggers who has been speaking up loudly and consistently, even if it means she loses customers or readers. I guess what I am trying to say is that the focus of a lot of the blogs I have loved, which seem to vibrantly support women and our spirits, have been conspicuously silent about the issues this election season and its hard for me to understand how or why the focus could be on anything but these things among souls who value the lives and rights of women.
so glad you spoke your truth here, my love.
i hear you.
i resonate.
i am holding your hand through it all, always.
one of the biggest blessings from blogging was meeting and falling in love with you as a true friend/sister/lover for life. i’ll take all the blog muck for that, any day. ; )
you and your cans are SO worth it.
i love you and am in awe of your bravery and openness. you inspire me.
xo
Hi there Christine,
I’ve only just discovered your blog – and straight away I’m drawn right in by your amazing honesty and courage. You eloquently express many of my own thoughts about the strange world of blogging – overwhelmingly a female world, in my experience – and as with nearly all female activity, it is all about connection and intimacy. Still, it hurts to feel rejected or misunderstood even here in our strange virtual world – and as in the ‘real’ world, people deal with their pain differently. I like the way you’re dealing with things, and I’ll definitely return to hear more of your thoughts about this and other things.
its weird this blogging, i have been doing it for almost six years and i at one time it was just a place to dump my thoughts, journal and keep in contact with the friends that i had that had moved here there and everywhere, a place to throw my photos and poetry that no-one cared about but me. then i lost my twins and it became a place to throw my grief and pain and it was weird because that is when suddenly my blog audience seemed to grow but it was mostly a wonderful thing because i felt supported for those couple of years while i worked through that journey of healing. i think it is back to being a place to throw my stuff, document my life. i am surprised how often i read back, seeing where i’ve been helps me to see where i’m going.
i love that the bloggers that i have met are just as they are in their blogs and that when we meet it is like continuing a conversation that has already been going on ~ that is mostly why i comment, for the conversation. i really don’t care if people comment on my blog or link me or whatever ~ i don’t even have a link bar on my blog. the whole popularity thing freaks me out frankly and yes i have been hurt in the past by bloggers that i thought were friendly. that said, i have been hurt outside of blogland by people who i thought were different than they turned out to be so that makes sense.
i never really know where i stand on blogging because it changes with my moods and sometimes i feel like tearing it all down but then i realize that i would miss out on so much beauty because at the end of the day, i too like to see and believe the best in people while recognizing that we are all, afterall, human and my gosh ~ how inspiring it all is
Oh, boy, can I relate to almost everything you’ve written here. I’ve made two tries at blogging and have been thisclose to trying it again, but the issues you’ve raised here always seem to be stronger in that approach/avoidance dance.
I enjoy reading what you share here and appreciate your honest approach. I’m not familiar with Marisa’s blog, but am so glad Michelle is back–I’ve missed her words and photos.
Wishing you well as you carry on with your spring cleaning.
Christine this is such a great post and you touched on so many ideals I’d like to comment in bullet form – lazy but concise:
- I too mostly lurk. Like you I just don’t have time to leave comments on every blog I read, and I’d rather say something meaningful than just “Great post!” even if I do believe it to be.
- I recently stopped blogging myself (though I think only my dad and my brother were even reading it) for the same reason as above – I’d rather say nothing if I don’t have the time to say something significant – and right now I just don’t have the time.
- your blog (plus Sparkletopia) are two of my favorite daily clicks – I always look forward to some genuine inspiration and authentic talk about whatever you’re up to.
So whatever your goals and wishes for your blog, you’re reaching this reader and making my day more positive, fun and hopeful.
wow, what a brave post and sharing.
thank you.
i relate too to what of much of what you say. even in the non-blogworld i struggle with not fitting in with the “normal folks” (ha!) and sometimes that leaks into my blogging life as well. i know the roots of this issue, so when it arises i try to be gentle with myself. (easier said then done sometimes) in other words-that is my gremlin-i don’t fit in, i am not wanted, blah blah blah.
i try to see my connections from moment to moment and appreciate it for what it is. i am a pretty natural giver and that has been misunderstood/mistreated in the past so i am careful with expectations.
does this even make sense? i could ramble on! blogging has been a huge blessing for me and also a challenge. but in the end i would rather take the risk so there you go.
much love and support to you christine,
mccabe xx
Many of us have been at this for a few years now and maybe all this questioning and examining is a natural shift in blogging evolution. You have pretty much summed up how I feel and act within the community. My only issue is with how open I can be without alienating loved ones and those people who read my blog who know me only on the periphery in my “real” life. I feel a bit off balance in this respect and have not quite regained my footing.
As I have no doubt said before you are where I come to for authenticity and truth.
By the way, I just got your gorgeous book, it is so amazing! I am going to savor it bit by bit, it exudes so much wisdom and beauty. Thank you so much!
The internet and therefore the world of blogging is open to everyone and anyone on the planet. As such, there can be no control whatsoever on how, what, or why, any individual bares their soul to the rest of the world, which is what we do when we blog. That is the risk we take. There are many situations in life where we are fooled, misled, taken for granted, disappointed etc. Blogging is just the latest way of connecting, let’s face it, with strangers, and risking an unfortunate experience. Being wary, cautious and thoughtful is all we can do, whilst we do our best to remain true to ourselves on our own blogs. Blogging is not a female world. Blogging is exactly in proportion to the general population. It just depends where your interests lie. Look for male oriented subjects and you will find men blogging. It’s a reflection of the world we live in. There is no reason to expect bloggers to be any better behaved than anyone else. Humans do bad stuff sometimes. The internet gives them scope for putting the bad stuff out to more people. Bloggers are not better than anyone else. They are not more responsible. They don’t have finer feelings or intentions. They are just putting their opinions and thoughts out there on a blog for anyone who wants to read about them. As more people blog, and as the blogging community grows, more chances of being taken for a ride will occur. Once you accept that, you stand less chance of being hurt.
I have had my own questions about blogging-where I fit-whether I need to have a “theme” to keep blogging.
Alot of this comes from how I started blogging- working through the loss of my mother and infertility.
And it helped so much, but now I find myself a bit lost. It is more difficult for me to know how to write about my life now, that it is filled with more business etc.
This is a very good topic to ponder. I am proud of you for writing about something that is not an easy blog post topic.
I love you
Thea
The only reason I read blogs is to gain inspiration and wisdom. Consequently, my list of regular reads is short. My time is limited, so value is sought each time I turn on my computer. Your blog , Christine, is on my short list.
I write a blog because the Muse implores me to share some spiritual knowledge in hopes it might help even one other person come to love and appreciate themselves a little bit more. My blog is not popular. The most comments on one post I ever received was 12. But popularity has nothing to do with why I keep going. (My highschool days are way, way behind me.) The sparse comments, from men and women, are filled with thanks for and resonance with what has “channeled” through me. It is enough.
But you have the best idea already on how to raise the bar in the blogging community. Follow instincts. Be true to one’s self. Be authentic and sincere. Subscribe to and reward nothing less.
I have been blogging for three years. I have been hurt and I have been loved. I guess that will always be the way. I am more cautious now who I trust…still, I am sure I will be hurt again and loved again.
I am also sure I will continue to love and I am pretty sure I will hurt another. Not intentionally hurt someone, but one sometimes doesn’t know they are hurting another. When I get hurt I try to think that the hurter didn’t intentionally hurt me (I believe this, but sometimes it takes me months (and months!) to believe this!)
I like your blog.
I like your exploring and your perspective and your art.
I hope you keep sharing here.
Oh, and I really like when you ask questions that get me thinking and open a discussion.
XO,
Melba
thank you…words i needed today.
I’ve been blogging for years, but only recently have I gotten involved in the blogging community. I initially used blogging as a way to collect essays, without realizing that the real value of blogging is the dialog and community.
Around when people actually started reading my words, I had to consider what exactly I was going to say. Did I want to present a prettily varnished picture of who I was? No. But at the same time I recognize that this isn’t the place where I share private thoughts and feelings. Personal thoughts and feelings, yes. Private ones, no. Just like when I was developing my voice as a poet or a teacher, any public voice.
I am really glad that I have avoided any cattiness that I am hearing people talk about. Either I am too insignificant for anyone to care about, or I just choose not to take part in any of it, so avoid it by not being drawn in.
But I am glad that people are talking about being real in their blogs… without being catty. Real doesn’t mean nasty, it means facing your OWN flaws, not picking at others’.
Oh, and about the political stuff… it just doesn’t fit with the journey I am on right now… but I am glad to speak up in conversations with other bloggers. Is that a cop out? I think we have to be true to our truest journeys, even if that means we don’t have the room to take up other worthy ones. I just can’t fight all the fights that I would like to.
i sometimes make the mistake of thinking that people who are more successful or popular aren’t experiencing those same struggles with feeling left out, feeling on the outskirts, feeling vulnerable. it’s all relative. i appreciate hearing about your humanness, christine. i think when we’re at our most truthful, it’s easier for others to relate and understand who we really are (which makes for great blog reading too.)
thank you for speaking your truth here, it brings up so much for me, the blogging world, my own writing, and the validation we sometimes need/want….lots to think about.
you are a brave one!
xoxo
can i confess that i don’t even know how to check my stats? i never figured it out and i’m pretty sure i don’t want to!
this post (and the ones you linked to) have spoken aloud a lot of what i’d been feeling lately (and feeling kind alone in such thoughts).
much thanks for such beautiful honesty.
When i started blogging i had no idea where it would take me; in a way i was joining a ready-made community, but also simply using it as a platform to share my words and poetry, and talk a little about the grief i was going through. As the readership grew, so did the support, that is something i will always be so grateful for. the more bloggers i met in real life, the more i could see how blogging has the potential to connect us all; to help us feel less alone, to share the human-ness of it all.
i wrote a post a while back about how a blog can be (and is often) the PR version of a person’s life – the edited highlights, the best bits, the stuff they’re proud of, and it’s good to celebrate the positives, and look on the bright side. But i was also aware of how i had a tendency to use the blog world as a stick to beat myself with, finding myself lacking when compared to the good fortune of others. Obviously none of this was particularly conscious, but i did find that when i cut down my blog reading, i got so much more done, and felt able to focus on *my* path, rather than get sucked into the energy drain that blogging can be.
these days i blog about my journey, such as it is, to continue the conversation with those souls who’ve followed me along the healing path. i have days when i wonder why i still blog, but then i’ll get an email from someone thanking me for being so honest about my struggles, and i feel so humble, and glad that i can share what i’ve learned, even if only in a small way.
i don’t care about stats, and while i value every comment i receive, i don’t hang out hoping for them to arrive. i think like anything that involves human interaction, blogging can carry a lot of expectations with it, and certainly there is the potential for emotions to get involved. the issue of popularity gets mentioned a lot in the blog-airwaves, and while it’s not something i’ve ever strived for, i can see how people can feel excluded when the blogosphere starts to resemble an exclusive club. It’s easy to link to friends and bloggers and share photos, and after a while it turns into a show-and-tell of who’s in your address book – geez, i’ve done it myself
Okay, i’m realising that there is a lot more i could write about this so i might post this comment on my blog too – bloggers blogging about blogging is surely blogging squared?
i love you doll, and will speak to you when you get back xo
When i started blogging i had no idea where it would take me; in a way i was joining a ready-made community, but also simply using it as a platform to share my words and poetry, and talk a little about the grief i was going through. As the readership grew, so did the support, that is something i will always be so grateful for. the more bloggers i met in real life, the more i could see how blogging has the potential to connect us all; to help us feel less alone, to share the human-ness of it all.
i wrote a post a while back about how a blog can be (and is often) the PR version of a person’s life – the edited highlights, the best bits, the stuff they’re proud of, and it’s good to celebrate the positives, and look on the bright side. But i was also aware of how i had a tendency to use the blog world as a stick to beat myself with, finding myself lacking when compared to the good fortune of others. Obviously none of this was particularly conscious, but i did find that when i cut down my blog reading, i got so much more done, and felt able to focus on *my* path, rather than get sucked into the energy drain that blogging can be.
these days i blog about my journey, such as it is, to continue the conversation with those souls who’ve followed me along the healing path. i have days when i wonder why i still blog, but then i’ll get an email from someone thanking me for being so honest about my struggles, and i feel so humble, and glad that i can share what i’ve learned, even if only in a small way.
i don’t care about stats, and while i value very comment i receive, i don’t hang out hoping for them to arrive. i think like anything that involves human interaction, blogging can carry a lot of expectations with it, and certainly there is the potential for emotions to get involved. the issue of popularity gets mentioned a lot in the blog-airwaves, and while it’s not something i’ve ever strived for, i can see how people can feel excluded when the blogosphere starts to resemble an exclusive club. It’s easy to link to friends and bloggers and share photos, and after a while it turns into a show-and-tell of who’s in your address book – geez, i’ve done it myself
Okay, i’m realising that there is a lot more i could write about this so i might post this comment on my blog too – bloggers blogging about blogging is surely blogging squared?
i love you doll, and will speak to you when you get back xo
Hi Christine,
I guess once again I have started this whole conversation with the comment I left on Marisa’s blog, but that day I just felt compelled to say it. It had been swirling in my mind as well as some fellow bloggers and well when you can’t take it anymore you have to let it out.
I guess my beef was with the commenters themselves more than the bloggers. I was getting sick of seeing some fellow friends “sucking” up to other blogs knowing that they particularly do not care for them. I like you cannot in no way shape or form can do this, it goes against my whole being. You hear all the time from shows like Oprah to be your authentic self and well what are we doing by “faking” it.
I believe that this is the time to really be heard and really give a voice and when you coat it with sugar all the time is it a voice worth hearing. Hey I like to give complements and get some as well but it just can’t be a love fest all the time. I have seen blogs take off comments that they feel are not full of good things to say-why? Are we all supposed to be nice all the time, what good is that? I am not saying you have to be vulgar but their has to be some conversation of reality.
Anyway I am actually glad I started it all, at least for this week I have finally read some interesting comments from fellow bloggers and well its about time!!
Love your words, I am not as eloquent as yourself so I am glad for your take on it all, I will be coming back again!!
i started my blog fairly recently but i find that i am already neglecting it. lately, i’ve been making a conscious effort to honor the “here and now” in my life and somehow that just doesn’t match up with blogging. at least for me. i can’t quite find the words to explain this further…but, based on your thoughful and profound post, i’m thinking that you’ll understand.
wonderful post, and ur right, being really TRUE is what it’s all about.. here here!
i love you swirl girl.
I have so many and varied responses to your post, but the main one is Wow. I think that your ability to grasp a topic from the air, and hold it on your hand, and then open that hand and let the ideas and thoughts drift and meander through your readers minds is amazingly beautiful. And then, your topic, I feel every single word and phrase, and will just say I hear you, and your brave and honest voice.
I am new to your neighborhood. : ) I got lost in your post, at times I shouted yes, at others times, I welled up.
You really wouldn’t believe how I can relate to your words, this week, today.
I don’t know how I found my way over here, but I feel truly blessed because I did.
I don’t know you but I will be brave enough to send you love, blessings and courage.
; )
I’ve been blogging for an astonishing 10 years now (I feel a bit geeky for admitting that). And when I read this:
“If anyone reading this believes I have not been made to feel left out, excluded or not cool enough for the cool crowd, you are very much mistaken. I have felt all of these things from people I put my trust in, and it has not been fun, to say the least. These experiences have inspired me to pull away completely and distrust everyone. My work there is to not allow that current to pull me too far out to sea, so far that I’m disconnected from everyone. They have made me feel taken for granted and like a total sucker, as if I somehow got pulled into someone’s tractor beam and wanted so much to believe in the possibilities of our connection that I didn’t see the truth of what our relationship really was (which may not necessarily have been bad, but not as geunine as I thought it was.)”
I just started to completely and totally bawl. This has been my experience on a few occasions. It hurts each time. Those outside of the blogging community probably can’t imagine how it’s possible to feel sad over these situations (“After all, you don’t really know the person!”) but my truth is that I have.
And I guess it’s also true that I have not only been “pulled out to sea” but have sort of stayed there, afraid to really connect.
However, I will say that I have started to see the gift–the pattern of mistrust was *most* obvious in my relationships via blogland, but once I started looking, I saw how I had that same pattern everywhere. The gift of being able to open my eyes a little more has been a valuable one.
xoxo
As always, much love for risking honesty.
So much to ponder as we allow small snippets from our lives to become somewhat public.
I am new here, as I only just discovered your blog after purchasing one of your pieces through Etsy. But I love your honesty and your ability to convey your thoughts through your art and your writing. That much I can tell is very real and very authentic. I began blogging as a way to practice my writing, as well as a way to document some of the journey that I am traveling on. My experiences with other bloggers have been very good so far, but I do understand that just as in “real life”, it pays to be safe. I try not to invest too much emotion into the things that I read in bloggy-land, but that isn’t always easy to do.
I’m not sure how old you are, but I am 46, and I think that sometimes age teaches us to live with a healthy sense of trust/distrust. I know that there are many things that happen today which I allow to just roll off that would have affected me differently when I was 36 or even 26. I am also sure that being in the midst of raising three teenage daughters and a twenty-something has taught me to focus on the more important stuff. But I understand your search for answers and your need to question the relationships that are forged through blogs. And I can definitely relate to your feelings.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this post. There is a lot to consider and I hope that you find peace in the answers that you find. After reading some of the well-written comments here, I can see that you have made some wonderful relationships through blogging. Focus on those and not the ones that have caused you harm. They are the ones that are truly important, anyway.
With healing hugs,
Debbie
thank you christine for sharing this, for speaking your truth. also thank you for sharing the two links, indeed there are very interesting discussions going around! it’s so wonderful to be able to share like this and feel like we are not alone.
i started blogging only a couple months ago, being hesitant for a couple years. in the end i decided to take the plunge, realizing that i really have nothing to lose and so much to potentially gain. i initially started my blog to be able to join all the great creative women out there, seeing so many friendships being created… of course i’ve learnt that just by having a blog doesn’t mean that i’ll have instant blog friends… at first it actually made me feel more alone, but i have since re-evaluated the reasons i blog and readjusted my expectations… i want to share my world and hopefully inspire others as others have inspired me. i am still so new to this whole blogland, so have limited experience… but i am so happy that you shared this…
brava…much of what you write needed to be voiced…i once was a tracking fool…and life intervened and brought me nack to earth with a thud earlied this year…what was so important became less so or not so…i look forward to reading your thoughts and, when i am moved, to comment…your truth often aligns with mine…keep your truth alive and always believe in your gut…hugs, rebecca
Havi at http://www.fluentself.com/blog/biggification/why-even-bother-blogging/#comments has a great article on blogging – the trick is never to let it be a measure of your self worth.
i enjoyed reading your post and I have been enjoying your book. Authenticity shines through no matter what. It is what I do with my blog and like you, I don’t know that my stats are huge or not. I blog for me…no one else. Hoping to put something good into the world when there is plenty of negative. Glad I found your blog. I will return.
Thank you! This post couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
I’ve blogged in one form or another since I first started using the internet, but only recently started blogging about my art work. I’ve been so inspired by the wonderful community of artists. I was (& still am) thrilled to throw my hat into the ring.
The more I write and the more I think about wanting to present my authentic self, the more I’ve been thinking I need to put up photos of myself, of my studio, of my life. I haven’t been doing this much because honestly? My life looks nothing like the lives & people I see on other blogs.
Day to day my studio/bedroom is a disaster. There are boxes everywhere, papers, art supplies, STUFF. I have no storage space & it shows.
Day to day I also *look* like a disaster. I don’t wear make-up unless I’m going out. I don’t put on cute outfits to stay home & paint. A splash of water on my face & a ponytail is the sum of my daily beauty routine.
If I put up pics of my authentic self, I could single-handedly launch blogland’s Worst Dressed List!
While I don’t want my blog to become my dumping ground for dirty laundry, I do want to be honest about the struggles in my life, the obstacles we all face while trying to find a joyful path.
I hope I can find that balance.
And I hope people like you keep making posts like this to nudge me in the right direction.
here, here, swirly. recreating the painful cliques of high school is what blogging sometimes feels like. i’ve heard it from so many women. isn’t that what made most of us outcasts driven to be artists in the first place?! love to you, my dear-this was brave and honest & i always appreciate these qualities in you.
I already told you by phone but it needs repeating ~ such a beautiful, eloquent post. Thank you for sharing.
i make friends easily. i reach out and meet someone knew on a regular basis. with that said, i don’t have great friends. i find that i have a very difficult time finding people that i truly connect with.
blogging has allowed me to find like-minded individuals who are encouraging and loving. but i have at times questioned whether or not it was real. thus squam was truly life changing for me. i found that the relationships i had carved out were true and real and sweet. i think it takes integrity to yourself to find it though.
(((hugs)))
thank you…for your words and honesty. my goodness you are brave!
your post could not have come at a more opportune time.