Hmm. This is going to be a tough subject. I heard news that an online friend has been subject to the same treatment every blogger goes through when they become increasingly popular: unjust criticism from people she doesn’t know and more importantly, don’t even really know her and shameless copying of her personal entries.

Blogging can be a really touchy subject. It creates such a huge peekhole through a person’s personal life, in a way, that sometimes you create a notion that you KNOW the person already. It also makes you feel close to the person and against your own will, that person can influence your opinions as well.

Which leads us to a more personal subject. Hence this entry.

How personal should blogging be?

I have always been real. More real, in fact, that once you get to read the whole of my blog, you get to see a sense of myself, and my life. Im proud to admit that the few who dared to really stalk me and read my entries each day have ended up becoming such real-life great friends of mine. But is it all of me? Is THIS blog all of me?

It’s only the tip of an iceberg. And I’m such a HUGE iceberg, pun intended. It is such a pity that people can judge others just by what they read. Which also draws us into another complicated thin line – how much responsibility you have as blogger to your readers. But I’ll leave it at that because it’s such a complicated matter.

Where am I going at?

I have been feeling this way for a long time. The thought and worry that my life is an open book that unwanted people can come and read and make assumptions. I know people who know me in real life read my blog. And while it doesnt seem to bother me at the least ( remember I have always said I’m real here ), it does make me feel conscious. And responsible.

It all the more gets complicated with blogging becoming work for me and money is involved. And then my kids are involved because I get paranoid people can claim them as their own. Shit like that happens. It can happen to anyone, even if you think nobody is reading.

So what’s the point?
Inasmuch as I’d like to keep everything real, keeping portions to myself is essential for me to be able to not get swallowed into the whole crazy world of blogging. Crazy as it may sound, yes, I got caught up with this money making scheme.

It’s too bad I cannot keep my personal life away from writing “professionally”. It’s part of who I am. I dont really care if you don’t like what I write – it’s just me being me.

Blogging has started, for me, as form of release. Back in Blurty and LJ, my journals were friends only and if you think my entries here are so open, youd get the shock of your life when you read what’s on them. Why do I open up so easily? Maybe because I have been such a private person all my life. Maybe I have been trying to live up to what people have assumed of me for so long that letting loose to a group of people who virtually just know me was fulfilling.

It also has given me such a sense of freedom. And that freedom needs curtailing.
Ill see you tomorrow.

 

**This was inspired by Em.

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