Finding My Groove

Last weekend, I saw my husband reading my blog. He doesn't read it regularly, so I was happy and surprised! He was reading this, and made a comment: "You sure are telling a lot about yourself."  Well yeah, I said, but nothing too personal.  Then a few minutes later after reading a couple other posts, he commented that he thought it was kind of boring.  "Aren't you supposed to write about your opinion on things? " Yeah, I said, you can do that. It can be whatever you want. "So, if you wanted to have a blog called My Dull and Boring Life, you could?"  Sure, I said. So do you think I'm boring? "No," he said, "you're cool."  Hmm.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one for whom it's taken a while to find her blog voice. And I can see why some people choose to blog completely anonymously. They can write about anything/everything. I've only told a few friends that I'm doing this, and I do consider my readers (what I know about you!) when I write. I don't know who many of my readers are, because it seems that most readers don't comment. So, I guess you just keep going, and eventually you hit your stride. At least that's what I'm planning to do.

Comments

[caltechgirl]

That's exactly how it works. You just have to write for yourself, and eventually you'll feel good about what you're putting out there. Everyone's blog is different. Some people blog about politics, some sports, some their job(including mommy and daddy jobs), some blog about their kids or pets, or both, and some people write a little of everything. What makes your blog work is that it represents you, and what you want to write, and I for one think you're pretty cool, too. :)

[Marie]

Thanks Caltechgirl! :-) I think you're cool too. Yeah, mine seems to be a mish-mash. I think my hubby is used to hearing about "bloggers" on talk radio... and the ones they're referring to are more the pundit types. And while I do have opinions on things & may find myself on an occasional soapbox, that's not generally my style.

[Suzanne]

It's hard to strike a balance between respecting all your potential readers (especially those who know you in real life) and expressing your own voice. I do a fair amount of self-censorship on my blog because I don't want to offend anyone, especially, um, my mom, who I know reads my blog all the time!

[bari]

Today I found out I had a bigger and more regular audience than I thought I had. Two feelings of thought on it. Terrific and pressure!

I really enjoy your blog. I am glad you stopped by!

[Jody Halsted]

The only censoring I do is to protect my husband from my true feelings about some of his relatives. Ugh! I hope he doesn't read this!! But seriously, I feel like if someone doesn't like what I have to say they probably won't visit again. Which is OK. I probably wouldn't like them, either. :)

And you aren't boring. Life, in and of itself, is interesting.

[rory]

Blogging is cathartic for me. I don't really care what others think of my emotions, but it's a nice feeling to get unexpected encouragement and exchange ideas with total strangers.

[Marie]

Suzanne,
I hear you... I think about how some people may be offended about certain things... though my hubby always says you have the right to say what you want and others have the right to be offended. Still, I don't want to spoil relations.

Bari,
Thanks for stopping by! I know what you mean. Hurry up and be creative, right? No pressure though... :-)

Jody,
MmmHmm! I hear you. And thanks. Yeah, reality is often pretty fascinating.

Rory,
Yeah, it is pretty cool. The whole online community thing is very intriguing to me.

[Melinama]

Why not just please yourself? You're doing this because YOU want to, right? Nobody else said you had to; you are not getting graded. If you try to guess what other people want you'll probably guess wrong anyway. So write what you feel.

Michele sent me!