Friday, August 11, 2006

Posting Block and The Risks Of Blogging

In a recent post, Brad Kellett writes:

but I have been at a loss for anything to write about on a more personal note. It's not that nothing has been happening to me, just that there is nothing that I have had the urge to blog.

I can comiserate with Brad in that sometimes there just isn't anything I want to blog about. And consciously looking for things to blog about usually results in a more lacklustre blog post - IMO of course.. I think my blog is personal in the way it's written, but I simply write about the things that interest me and the things that I think people will find useful or interesting. I don't go searching for those things. If they appear, then they might get blogged. Most of what is going on in other parts of my life would likely be neither interesting nor useful to anyone, so  that stuff just doesn't get  through the filter. Some people have no filter at all. Myself, I have a fairly substantial filter. There are two issues that sometimes gnaw at me in this respect:

My private life is mine. You will likely never see an "uh-oh...he's finally lost it" post here. If I need that kind of outlet (and I likely will at some point) it will be done under a pen-name somewhere else. If I need to relate my personal state of affairs about something on this blog  then I would likely pass it through my standard question: "would I be ok with everyone I currently know reading this post?" If the answer is anywhere close to no, then I don't post it.

There is also the issue of my livelihood. I don't write about my work, and I don't write about people I work with or deal with. The last thing I need is this blog to come back and haunt me 10 years from now when people I know are actually reading blogs.  It's funny because I never really admitted that to myself until I listened to the recent Bitterest Pill podcast in which Dan Klass says he needs a break. He relays a story about how he was chatting with another father at a school function where he described what it is he does (this whole podcasting schtick). He told the guy what it was called and basically gave him a quick description of what it is. Well of course one of the things Dan is good at is describing the social retardation of many of his parent-peers, he does it with vigor. Anyway, he sees the guy sometime later and the guy is just pissed. He listened to the podcast and felt that Dan was ridiculing everything this guy was about. Not a happy camper. Dan also goes on to say that he's now constantly worried about how his podcasts will affect his relationship with other non-immediate family members. His wife asking "Did you say such-and-such about so-and-so on the podcast?" is becoming more commonplace. He's basically not ready to run roughshod over his family's personal life for the sake of his podcast.

Now of course, I don't have a ton of subscribers (speak up you four!!) but it would seem pretty likely that someone I work with or deal with will eventually google me and read what I write here. So as anti-ballsy as it might sound, I'm not going to jeopardize other areas in my life for the sake of my blog. I want to be proud (or at least not ashamed) of what I write here.  So Brad, if it takes weeks for you to find something *you* feel is worthy of posting, then let it be weeks.







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