I was talking to someone today who asked for the link to my personal blog. Now, as a freelance writer and professional blogger, you’d think maintaining a personal blog would be a no-brainer. After all, words come easy, minimal editing required, and I can pick whatever topic I want. The reality is, my personal blog is the very last thing to get my attention. I ignore it like a bad pick-up line.
I’d love to give lots of exciting reasons for why I seldom update this thing. I’m busy! (True.) You already know everything I think on Twitter. (Also true.) It’s hard to fit it in while I’m training for that upcoming triathlon. (I’m sorry, have we met?)
I’ve been thinking a lot about why I don’t post here very much, and why I want to do so more often. Yes, it’s true, I’m really, really busy. However, I still find time to watch Glee (for the music) and Burn Notice (for the, um, plot lines…), so I can’t be that busy. I’m gonna blame some of why I don’t post much on the force that is Twitter.
Bloggers love feedback on what they write but commenting on blogs has fallen out of favor mainly, I think, because everyone’s pressed for time these days. Fair enough, I’m guilty of not leaving comments on many of the awesome blogs I read. When I post something on Twitter, I get instant feedback (or, deafening silence, which speaks volumes, too.) I’m able to get a dialogue going and, let’s face it, I love to hear myself talk. Deal with it. It’s fun to talk to people about what I think on Twitter, rather than blog about it into the vast echo chamber.
It’s also tough for me to write personal blog posts because, typically, I get far more, well, personal. True, I let a lot hang out on Twitter and, if you care to read between the lines, you can learn a lot more about me than you think. But, over the years, personal blogging has been a sort of catharsis for me. Now that my children are older and read my stuff, coupled with the professional online presence I have, it’s harder to get overly personal about my life.
Sidebar before we move on: This post has enough parenthetical comments to make an English teacher stab me with a quill. Tough crap.
So, why do I want to post more here? It’s not because the Internet needs more of my content, that’s for sure. It’s also not because I think anyone would hang on every word I write, or pine longingly for my next post. No, I want to write here more because writing is what keeps me sane.
Blogging has helped me immeasurably over the years keep my perspective, and sometimes my sanity. (Okay, yeah, the sane train left the station years ago. Humor me.) It’s also the only place I can let my guard down when I write. I don’t have to worry about SEO, phrasing, editors, typos, congruency of ideas, fact-checking, mis-quoting, objectivity, or any of the other 10,000 things a professional writer needs to be concerned with. See? I can even end my sentences with a dangling participle. (Yeah, that might not technically be a dangling participle, but you get the idea, so shaddup). Personal blogging means I can be myself, I can choose my words less carefully, and just be myself. That’s fun.
As many of my writer friends say about their personal blogs, it’s the cobbler’s children who often go shoeless. When you’re immersed in writing for a living, it’s hard to take the time to do it for yourself. When you spend your days relaying other people’s information to readers, you lose sight of the ability to relay your own information to others. When you’re staring down the barrel of seven deadlines, it’s hard to justify writing something that isn’t going to pay the bills. When blogging is a job, it’s difficult to also have it as a hobby.
That said, I’ve found myself missing my poor, neglected blog. So, here I am. I’m not sure how often I’ll post, or what kind of content I’ll bring, but I’ll stop ignoring it quite so much. I know, I know… you’re just giddy in anticipation. Cut the crap, I know most of you and I’m sure you’ve checked Twitter four times since you started reading this. I’ll still be there, giving you crap and goofing off when I should be working.
But I’ll write here, too. Sometimes, what I have to say is just too much for 140.
Ebb and flow. I don’t think there is anything quite so unsatisfying as going to your blog to write because you feel obligated, rather than moved to do so. Glad I hit on a day you wrote, though truth be told it was your 140#+ help in the Spohr laptop campaign that brought me. Here’s hoping it works.
I’m not a professional anything. I’ll get my first Social Security check sometime in December. For the time being I’m simply unemployed but when that first check (or direct deposit but it’s almost like the same thing) gets here I’ll be “retired”. Yay me! I still can’t seem to find time to write anything in my silly blog.
I think part of the problem is knowing I don’t have much of an audience anyway. With all the really incredible blogs out there that folks could be reading, why would anyone trouble themselves to read mine? I’m too boring.
You tweeted “Never, ever underestimate me.” but I didn’t see a tweet that offered a clue as to why you said that. I was hoping it was the harbinger of some cool story on your blog, which is why I dropped by.
I’ve had terrible luck with blogs today. Hardly anyone I usually read has posted lately. I wonder if I should post something about that to my blog? Hmm. Nah.
Best regards.