The thing about blogging is that it’s a good news, bad news thing. The good news is that blogging potentially exposes the blogger to many more readers than he or she could ever reach under traditional means. Blogging also keeps the blogger on something of a cutting edge.
The bad news is that anything you put on the Internet is fair game for copying, forwarding, editing, and the like. Your words can acquire a life of their own; they can be cut and pasted, twisted, and reused to another’s purpose. So it’s important to be careful what you write for the great beyond.
I started my blog over a year ago with this in mind. I made a conscious decision that I would never write anything in it that I wouldn’t stand naked on a streetcorner and proclaim. I’ve stuck to that, even though I’ve mused about my dislike for President Bush and the like; but I would do so publicly if called upon.
What I find inhibiting is that this promise I made to myself sometimes prevents me from writing about family situations or personal feelings that are important to me. I want to put their importance on paper, but I don’t want to the world to know.
So what do I do? Do I write my blog under the guise of a column, which is what is happening? Do I renege on my personal promise not to be catty on the Internet and rant on at length? Or do I write two blogs, one public and one private, the latter being my true feelings?
As a writer I have finite time in which to write each day, so I’m always torn about where to craft my words. Two blogs seems as if one is the shadow of the other. Yet, one blog doesn’t seem fulfilled enough. I have no answer at this point, but I am contemplating the problem.
Leave a Reply