Since posting about my potential guest blogging piece for the Washington Post (keep your fingers crossed for me!) I have gotten a few questions about if I am worried that people I work with would find my blog. I have given this some thought and in a word - no. I am not worried.
The purpose of my blog is not to complain about work, or the Hoos (although I occasionally do both). I really try to focus on my life with LP and my excitement about Bun and all of the good stuff. More importantly, I try to blog about things that I don't think would be embarrassing to me or make my readers uncomfortable.
In general, I am pretty tight-lipped about what I say about work. In fact, two of my colleagues and all-around favorite people, Wenderina and Kiki, already read my blog. And, a few months ago I gave my url to my direct supervisor. I don't think she ever actually came and looked at the blog, but it is out there if she wanted to.
I do realize that the thought of a blog makes some people very uncomfortable. Like I am sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings and things that should best be kept private. The Hoos is someone that really doesn't understand why I blog. He rarely, if ever, reads it.
True, modesty and privacy go out the window once one gives birth in a room full of strangers, but I am not quite that open out here in cyberspace. I have never mentioned LP's name (those aren't even her initials) and I am pretty sure that once Bun arrives I will just give the baby a nickname and go with that, never announcing his or her name in this space. I enjoy writing and I find that the very nature of a blog and posting my stories offers time to filter and more closely weigh what I am sharing. It forces me to think very carefully about what I say and how I say it.
For this and other reasons, I don't typically respond to memes or do the "100 things you didn't know about me", because, honestly, there are lots of things I don't want you to know about me. It is not that I am trying to create a picture of perfection (I often write about my imperfections and inadequacies, I think) or create an ideal me; rather my goal is to amuse, relate, and chronicle some of the high points (and some of the low).
Despite what some people think, in my experience blogging really is a personal thing and much more about the writer than the audience.
4 comments:
You've raised some excellent points. One of the things that I like about your blog is that you have a central theme (LP and being a mom) and stick with it for the most part, while still keeping things lively and interesting for all of us readers.
Meanwhile my blog is a collection of random stories and unrelated happenings - but that works well for me. So I agree with you that blogging really is a personal thing and much more about the writer than the audience... although blog "hijackers" seem not to realize this.
Some bloggers share very little while others tell every last embarrassing personal detail - I like to think I fall somewhere in the middle. And I'm hidden in(relative) anonymity.
Iunderstand being careful about the blog. My employers found my blog and are upset that I note how often I am bored at work. But it does seem to have done some good because I am busier lately.
Well, we all have our personal reasons for starting a blog. Either it be to vent about our daily events from work to home, or just to share new things that maybe a friend or family member didn't know. There still are a limited amount of people that know about my blog, but I'm not really hiding anything nor revealing too much in my blog (I think, anyway).
That's so awesome! I have my fingers crossed for you. You are so right about blogging being for the author. That's totally how I view my blog. I think, however, that once you put yourself on a blog, you have to assume people will find you out. The internet is a small place when you boil it all down.
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