Here’s the deal… Many of the bloggers I read are very open and honest about their lives. Sometimes their pain is so palpable I can feel it across the internet. I admire their honesty and willingness to share deeply personal things about their life. Unfortunately I am not one of those bloggers. I admit there have been moments when I have shared my deepest feelings. And people responded with love and caring. But I am a very private person and I have a hard time with that. I feel exposed and vulnerable. And I’m not sure that it is appropriate for my emotions to be on the world wide web for any stranger to read! Please understand, if it’s right for you then I applaud you. I’m just not sure it’s right for ME. I wish I could be that open but I have always been concerned that once it’s “out there” it can never ever be taken back. And I don’t want to be judged 20 years from now for what I wrote in a moment of pain and or despair.
I worry about writing about my friends and loved ones. I try to ask permission and or change the names/details before I write about them but isn’t it an invasion of their privacy all the same? They didn’t ask to be featured in my blog. I worry about writing about work, we have all seen the repercussions of people posting about their jobs and being fired or reprimanded. Maybe I just worry too much, I don’t know. I do know however that I can only share a certain amount about my life. And if seems like I’m holding back sometimes? Well I am. That’s just me. This is not to say I still won’t share deeply personal things on occasion. I am just going to choose them very carefully.
Thanks for understanding.
Darlin’, yours is probably the wisest course.
I think you’re right about everyone having different ideas about appropriate blog openness. I’ve seen some that offer wa-a-ay too much information, some that are truly compelling “memoirs”, and others that just offer your average neighborhood [insert slur] a chance to spout their nonsense. But that is what I, personally, love about blogs: seeing everyday things through someone else’s eyes.
Your blog reflects you, and your blog is classy, funny, and something I look forward to seeing and reading. Don’t change!
So be it. I agree.
Your blog, your right.
I hope its OK that I mentioned you in my blog today.
I always share my deepest feelings…well…ok….not so much.
Now that I think of it…I share very little of substance on my blog.
Hi baby! You have a great blog here, write about what you want, whatever pleases you, the point is to have fun with it. Whatever you wish to write is totally up to you! =)
Lisa, I’ve been grappling with this issue recently, too! I understand your wish to be more private. And like you, I also respect people’s rights to be more revealing.
It does seem, though, like there’s some sort of pressure in the blogosphere to self-disclose. Readers clearly respond to it, and leave comments.
I agree Lisa… go read my response to Deni on her blog about the very same thing. It fits for you also.
What are you talkin’ about? Your one hell of a writer which makes this an awesome blog. I enjoy reading all that is Lisa, whether it’s the full story or only part of it. It doesnt matter. What matters is that you actually do take the time to keep us up to date with your life. So, thanks for that!
Your content is your own business. As long as you’re truthful to yourself, how others perceive you is irrelevent.
We must be in sync today because I wrote about something quite similar. There is so much that I would like to be able to write about but won’t becasue it is too personal or I feel is an invasion of my friend’s and family’s privacy. Even anonymity has it’s limitations in being protective.
Everybody’s got to do their own thing. I used to feel like I couldn’t say anything personal and then I got a really anonymous blog. Problem solved!
You take care of yours and live in your own comfort zone. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for that. I enjoy reading you regardless. Hugs.
I have limits on what I will and will not blog–and they’re different than some folks’ limits. But it’s my blog, and if you don’t like what you won’t see, don’t read it. I feel the same about others’ blogs–content is totally up to them and I respect it.
I’m all for saying what you want and holding back on whatever you’d like. It’s all about what you’re comfortable with. There are tons of things that I just don’t/won’t share and I am perfectly ok with that and you should be too.
I blog. Therefore I am.
If you were writing to be like someone else, then it wouldn’t be you or your style. As you know, I am an open book. I have nothing to hide and if I offend someone, as you know, I couldn’t care less especially if they deserve to be offended, lol. If someone wants to use that against me at some point, so be it. I have no worries about such things. But that’s just ME.
Your blog, your decision. Personally, I go back and forth…. there are some things (like D) I’m highly cautious of what, if anything, I share. There are other times I say the heck with it and share unblinkingly. It’s just what one is comfortable with sharing and with-holding.
I’m sorry, but I thought that the whole idea behind YOUR blog was to write about what YOU wanted to. Not what others wanted you to. I’m with you Lisa, I’m a very private person. I know that I’ve shared a few personal things, but nothing like other blogs that I have seen.
My question to you is, are people asking you to reveal private things? That’s just weird.
Hey, you do what makes you feel comfortable! I love to read what you have to write even if you are “holding back”. Believe me, there’s a whole lot that I don’t share on my blog with the world, because frankly, it’s my personal biz.
Stop fretting, we love ya!
blogging is whatever you want to write, or not. We should blog for ourselves. If some one else wants to read it great! If not, great!. I think I blogged for almost 3 months before I ever received a comment
You and your blog are exactly as you/it should be … and that’s a very good thing
xo
I have the same problem. Every time I get ‘emotional’ and want to blog about it, I remember the diaries I kept and then burnt from high school and college. Then I remind myself that Google is like cement and wont go up in smoke so easily. Heaven forbid my grandfather read something I wrote while dipping into the wine vats.
Still there are some things I want to get out….I usually mix it up with fiction. Tell a few truths, but not many, in the middle of a long drawn out story thats fictitious as hell. Then it’s real to me because I felt it ..but it’s not to others….and it doesn’t seem as personal that way.
Also, Pa wont mind.
There’s a lot to be said for artistic freedom. There’s also a lot to be said for loving someone and not wanting to hurt them.
Thank you everyone for your understanding and support.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Bloggers are THE BEST!
MWAH my friends
Well said. Personally I think your blog is for you and you should be able to put whatever you choose to whether its baring your sole or sharing a little of this and a little of that. Its your blog. I am sorta in the middle on that note. I can share things but I don’t go into deep deep deep detail.
I can totally understand that. I try to keep my blog as light as possible. I’d rather it be funny than all uptight and serious.
Lisa: Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. One way of looking at people sharing with YOU is that you obviously create a safe feeling for them to reach out and be BLOG friends. Still, your post is smart and worth heeding! lol, Lisa!
I like your blog for the same reason I follow a few others, because it’s you. Whether you are offering life up on a plate or sharing a funny moment or writing nothing at all. Blog about what makes you happy. I lost my way on my blog for a while because I started worrying too much about what others think. Now I’m back to writing for me, like I used to. I blog like no one is watching and I’m back in my happy place, (most of the time)
Do what I do–I warn my friends/family/anyone that knows me that if they act like an asshat, fuckwit, moron, or provide me with entertainment because of their stupidity, regarless of it being an action or in a verbal form, I claim it. You don’t want me to write about it, then you better give me a disclaimer right then and there.
Other than that–deal with it.
How ELSE do you think I put the kegstand mishap of 2006 on my blog without my conscience telling me it might hurt her feelings? Please–had she not attempted it TWICE then I wouldn’t have even written about it. That girl is my best friend and I didn’t even think twice before publishing it.
And if your friends know you, they know you have a blog, which should keep them on their toes anyways.
Just write Lisa–my favorite short story author, Grace Paley, one said that “it is the responsibilty of writers to listen to gossip and other stories–and then to pass it on. It is the way all storytellers learn about life.”
Besides–you can’t help it if it’s funny and you feel the need to share
It’s your blog, so you do what you want.
I don’t write much at all about my family or work. In a roundabout sort of way I might say something, but also, they don’t know I have a blog. If they did, I would not be able to say ANYTHING about them. Or, anything at all, really, for that matter.
It’s totally understandable. There still are feelings and little bits of your feelings emotions and states of mind here and there, and that is just fine, you have found a middle, and a right one
I’ve learned that when I blog personal stuff, no one comments. When I write about mindless drivel, I get oodles of comments. No one online wants to hear about depressing news … we get too much of that on CNN and with Anderson Cooper.