I like the whole area of blogging.
It's nice and relaxing at times to jot down a thought or two, to tell a few "regulars" what I've been up to and what's going on. Some of the blogs I read regularly are fascinating and stimulating, rather like one of Britney's better videos, Slave 4U perhaps.
Cerno's post about having the time to blog got me thinking a little. When I started my blog I only had one preconceived notion; that I'd try to keep things positive, not rant and rave about things or people and not make it a "moaning" blog, and outlet for negativity. The rest was a freeform thing and I had no idea that I'd gain a bit of a readership.
As time has gone on, which I find it does except in Dr Who or Back to the Future, I've developed some more principles that I apply to my blog. They're my own principles and they may or may not apply to you. If you haven't got a blog then they won't apply to you for sure.
The strongest one is that I don't want to sail through my everyday life thinking about whether I should do a blog post about everything that happens to me. I'm quite content to have an experience and think that it might be interesting to write about but I don't want to analyse everything in my life in terms of its "blogability".
It means that London, Lanka and drums is not as fascinating as many of the blogs I read regularly. Java sent me an email the other day with the name of a new blog he has found that he recommended. I checked it out and it really was a great one, instantly readable and instantly captivating. But something about it bothered me and after some thinking I realised what it was.
It was the fact that the girl who writes it appears to spend as much time writing about her life as she does living her life, that she thinks of life as one big blog post. That's cool, fine and dandy, but it's not how I want to be.
I was on holiday in Poland last year and one of the thing that struck me was the way I saw many tourists taking photographs of the sights of Gdansk. Lots of these people were rushing around from one place or one building to the next and taking picture after picture, hardly looking and hardly experiencing with their own eyes and hardly feeling things for themselves. They'd see everything through a lens, on a viewing screen on their camera in the evening back at the hotel, but they wouldn't remember it for real.
That's my big judgement call for my blog.
I want to live life, experience things for myself and really feel them happening and love, hate or anything in between them. I want to climb Sigiriya, feel the wobbly steps, really look at the view from the top and really get attacked by bees and really feel what it's like. Then, if I fancy it, I might do a post about it.
None of this living for blogging stuff, certainly no rushing up there, taking a few snaps and rushing back down to do a post about it.
So my advice to Cerno is just to get on with life and enjoy it, then blog about it whenever he's got the time.
It's nice and relaxing at times to jot down a thought or two, to tell a few "regulars" what I've been up to and what's going on. Some of the blogs I read regularly are fascinating and stimulating, rather like one of Britney's better videos, Slave 4U perhaps.
Cerno's post about having the time to blog got me thinking a little. When I started my blog I only had one preconceived notion; that I'd try to keep things positive, not rant and rave about things or people and not make it a "moaning" blog, and outlet for negativity. The rest was a freeform thing and I had no idea that I'd gain a bit of a readership.
As time has gone on, which I find it does except in Dr Who or Back to the Future, I've developed some more principles that I apply to my blog. They're my own principles and they may or may not apply to you. If you haven't got a blog then they won't apply to you for sure.
The strongest one is that I don't want to sail through my everyday life thinking about whether I should do a blog post about everything that happens to me. I'm quite content to have an experience and think that it might be interesting to write about but I don't want to analyse everything in my life in terms of its "blogability".
It means that London, Lanka and drums is not as fascinating as many of the blogs I read regularly. Java sent me an email the other day with the name of a new blog he has found that he recommended. I checked it out and it really was a great one, instantly readable and instantly captivating. But something about it bothered me and after some thinking I realised what it was.
It was the fact that the girl who writes it appears to spend as much time writing about her life as she does living her life, that she thinks of life as one big blog post. That's cool, fine and dandy, but it's not how I want to be.
I was on holiday in Poland last year and one of the thing that struck me was the way I saw many tourists taking photographs of the sights of Gdansk. Lots of these people were rushing around from one place or one building to the next and taking picture after picture, hardly looking and hardly experiencing with their own eyes and hardly feeling things for themselves. They'd see everything through a lens, on a viewing screen on their camera in the evening back at the hotel, but they wouldn't remember it for real.
That's my big judgement call for my blog.
I want to live life, experience things for myself and really feel them happening and love, hate or anything in between them. I want to climb Sigiriya, feel the wobbly steps, really look at the view from the top and really get attacked by bees and really feel what it's like. Then, if I fancy it, I might do a post about it.
None of this living for blogging stuff, certainly no rushing up there, taking a few snaps and rushing back down to do a post about it.
So my advice to Cerno is just to get on with life and enjoy it, then blog about it whenever he's got the time.
10 comments:
Agreed.
Spot on about the photograph thing. I was really bloody pissed off at the Lourve in August. People actually expect you to step away and allow them to take pcitures. The chamber where the Mona Lisa was at looked like a press conference room. I'm not kidding you. There were hundreds in front of it clicking away like mad. I mean, what kind of an image can you capture with your stupid point-and-shoot camera anyway? Morons. I was so pissed off I actually blasted one of the museaum dudes there. (Not to much effect I guess, it was in English!)
I agree, but i often think " Is this blogable? :-)", to day i spent like 5 hours on blogging related work, we've got a rel problem bro
If I lost a kilo for each time you have mentioned slave 4U I'd be thin by now or maybe even disappeared altogether. Lol.
About the photograph thing,what Spectral says is so true. And I went before the whole Da Vinci Code sensation so now it must be out of control.
About blogging taking over your life, I think it also depends on for how long you've been blogging. I don't know if it's just me but the thing with blogging is it makes you want to write about anything and everything until the novelty wears off. And then you become pretty laid back about it.
this post really helped me a lot for the outlook for my blog...i totally agree with you...and I have sometimes been in the category where I spend so much time taking pictures than actually experiencing the moment..but i have changed I hope...grt post
Brilliant point!
when will you lay off your pathetic self righteous self.
You wuss with moderation I bet you get lot of sayings.
Have you clicked on your blog like crazy for it to go up to popular posts today?
I bet you will not have the balls post this comment
Thanks all.
Anon - "pathetic self righteous" is a matter of opinion, but it's my blog and I'll write what I feel like writing for as long as I want to.
I don't understand your 2nd sentence.
No, I don't give a shit about how many people read it.
I try to publish every comment unless they are spam or abusive to others.
Thanks for your comment.
Thank you RD for the wisdom :D Couldn't have come at a better time.
Made me realise why I was so uncomfortable with the idea of even making my blogging compete with other human world stuff. I found that description of the tourists who take pictures without pausing to actually look at a place quite handy. Particularly about dealing with the balancing act between enjoying writing and actually being mindful of the real world. The writing part creates the chattering monkey of the "blogging mind". Comes out screeching when I close my eyes to meditate. Writing and editing everything and anything. Its a terrible type of mental drift.
The description of the tourists is a solid concrete image to turn it off. I know I can do it cause I tend not to take too many photographs despite lugging a camera. I've lost quite a few "good shots" of sunsets because I watched the sun go down and not squinter through the view finder. So there is hope.
Every-time the blogging mind starts up I'll tell it to put the camera down. Ok maybe I might permit 1 photo (won't push this metaphor too much).
Decided that I'm not going to bother about scheduling blog time. I'll peck it out when I get a chance (I do have "me time" moments). The chattering monkey will be let out of the cage during those times and then locked up. It is good at pulling memories of moments to do its thing ;)
If a post takes longer to come out - so what - no ones' going to die.
Cerno-I like you sunset comment. Quite true . Ashamed to say when I see a nice sky, first thing that comes to my mind is my camera.
Basically it is about planing to relive the moment without taking the time to live it .
BTW, I've never been to France ....After reading your comments , would love to see the Monalisa ..even after Davinci code carnival...YOld habits die hard .Yes I will be taking my camera .
jp
Catching up with your blog and feeling bad because mine has lapsed due to lack of life/leave/all of the above. Anyhow, I could add videoing live concerts on your mobile to this post as something not worth doing because you end up seeing the concert through a tiny screen and not really listening. Oh, and the recording is usually cr*p as well so it's in fact a totally pointless thing to do. This knowledge never stops me trying to capture the moment though.. I never learn!
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