Blogging is endlessly interesting to me. The debate over whether it is real writing may never find a conclusion but to me it doesn't matter. It's all in the interpretation and I am constantly surprised and intrigued by how many different interpretations there can be.
My post on Amy Winehouse brought in more comments than I often get. I don't usually get a lot of comments here on blogger, more of you comment on FB or email me directly. Even more of you are silent, (she says fishing.) The comments I did get were overwhelmingly complementary and positive. It prompted me to ask The Husband if he had read it yet. He hadn't. I presented him with my laptop feeling a little, OK a lot, pleased with myself.
He read it and then announced he found my writing to be "difficult to follow and all over the place."
"Great sentiment but not your best writing" he said supportively. A spirit crushing proverb from my childhood came to mind - pride comes before a fall. The sound of my balloon popping hung in the air.
We 'discussed' his comments for a while. "I guess I just don't always get blogging." he said. I know lots of people feel the same way. They want polish and solid editing. They want well written and grammatically correct. Well you can find that in the blogosphere but you can also find thoughts and words just poured in a pile.
When I read a beautifully written post like this LISTEN. I feel like a fake. That's writing. That deserves to be published. Then I receive an email that tells me that my words moved someone to tears or encouraged them or comforted them and I think well that's worthwhile too.
Often your comments, to me, bear no relation to my post. Those are my favorite. In my mind I was so clearly writing about one thing. Stating one point of view. It was obvious. Unmissable. A one line comment then shows me that it was read and interpreted in a completely different way. I can't help but feel there's a little bit of magic there. For me, it means I don't have to worry about how my thoughts will be received because I can't control it. My words will fall on your ears however your inner voice plants them there. They may bear very little of my original intent. it doesn't matter.
That's the joy of blogging. I write to exorcise something that is rattling around my head or my heart. I write to share something funny or ironic. I write to get support and feel community. It don't have to be Shakespeare or Tolstoy because you will like it or not. Be inspired or bored. Comment or be silent. Come back or not.
Please do come back though, I'd miss you if you were gone.
I have been doing this for over five years. I do it because I love it. I love to write. I do it because I love the community I've made.
ReplyDeleteIf I did it for comments? I'd of stopped long ago. ha.
I have written maybe 7 posts that I'd say were amazing. In nearly six years. That's not much. But yet, here is sit, still writing, still being me all this time later.
And I would miss YOU if you were gone! So don't even consider it missy!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog - I'm sorry I don't always comment! As you know - two little ones makes for not a ton of free time. I have facebook open most often, so that's where I leave the largest footprint!
And that's interesting that your Winehouse post got the most comments - I am pretty sure I didn't. Will go back and check. I didn't even really know who she was, so her death didn't affect me at all - and I was in a place in my life where I was tuning out anything negative for fear of it impacting me too much....so I probably read your post, thought, Oh that Joy is so smart and thoughtful - and then moved on. :)
Sometimes I am surprised by the things people read and call amazing. Very often I don't agree at all. But then, very often I disagree about people's choices in beauty and art. To each their own, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI like your writing, I enjoy your blog. I don't find you scattered. Maybe our brains simply work the same way?