Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Blogging Dilemma

I was just reading from The Curious Writer for an upcoming composition class, and something suddenly occurred to me.  Now, being an English professor, this would be a good time to include the direct quote, but unfortunately, I left my book at the office...so I'm relying off of memory and will paraphrase. 

What Bruce Ballenger argues is that he views public and private writing in different ways.  His more private writing is done in journals, and as a result, he doesn't feel as self conscious about what he is saying, how he is saying it, etc.  And this got me thinking about blogging.  Doesn't blogging blur the lines between the private and the public?  And if it does, how do you maneuver through this?  I find that I turn to the blog in the same way as I would a journal.  I want to write about what I am personally thinking inside one moment in time, but in that space, I also realize that these thoughts will be made public for others to read.  I want the mutual correspondence and collaborative feedback, but there is also this impending fear and doubt whether or not the words are polished enough to appear in this forum. 

So, I'm curious...do you experience these dilemmas as a blogger as well?


2 comments:

  1. Blogging absolutely does blur the line between public and private. That blur is something that I think has helped me to become a better writer. Whenever I want to share something personal, I now ask myself why I want to do it, and also why anyone would want to read it. What results is something that shares just enough and hopefully entertains the reader. In that respect, I've developed a fresh set of organic boundaries. I find that making something personal is often an awesome way to make a larger point, and making a larger point removes much of the self-indulgence that I may regret later. And yes, I've written a lot of things that I regretted later. But I never remove them, because 1) you can't and 2) you shouldn't. Own your work. There's no point in worrying, because the world will keep spinning no matter what. The only way for you to find your own boundaries is practice. Trust your instinct. It won't let you down.

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  2. This is really great advice, and I particularly like the fact that you say not to remove anything that you have written. I edit myself quite often, even if that's deleting something I wrote on FB. I guess I feel that I don't want it "there" anymore, or I've moved past that feeling, or I think I said too much, maybe? It all goes back to finding my voice, my confidence, not only as a writer, but also as a person...still growing into my own.

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