Did that get your attention? Sorry, this is not my last entry. I’m not quitting blogging, I’ve just been thinking (and reading) about it, and came across this article, This is my last entry: Why I shut down my blog, on Slate.
The author of the article, Sarah Hepola, an aspiring novelist, says that she’s quit blogging because:
Blogging wasn’t helping me write; it was keeping me from it.
Basically, she found blogging to be a “major distraction”:
I would sit down to start on my novel only to come up with five different blog entries.
One of the librarians (not named, on request) who responded to my questionnaire had a similar response; in answer to my question, Would you agree that blogging has improved your professional practice? she said:
In parts: yes, because I have been able to make contact with many people I would otherwise not have been in contact with, discussing technology and practice with librarians from all over the world. Also no, because I have found it very difficult to write for publication since I started blogging.
I haven’t found blogging to be particularly distracting, in the sense that it hasn’t been keeping me from anything. Although I have really reduced the amount of time I spend on games lately. I didn’t plan to cut down on my game time, it’s just something that’s happened. I think I was getting really fed up with having to dodge immature, brattish players on WoW all the time so I just started playing less and less. Blogging (and reading blogs) has just stepped in to fill the gap and the desire to play has diminished over time. (Of course, now that M is playing EQ2, which is much less popular and has almost no griefers or idiotic behavioural displays, I must confess I am tempted to start playing again. Am trying to resisting this time because I am not sure I will be able to devote enough time to writing the articles if I do.)
For me blogging has so far been a positive experience. Rather than distracting me from writing, it has helped me to write. Having a daily writing routine has made a huge difference in my ability to write. Really. You might not have noted any improvement or particular skill on this blog, but believe me, it has made a huge difference to my work life. Thanks to blogging, I’ve been (mostly) able to overcome my Fear of Writing.
I used to have difficulties writing the simplest email (I’m not referring to single word or one liner emails, although I would sometimes agonise over these too). Minutes – misery. Reports – complete hell. Now, thanks to all my ruminating (geddit?), all that seems to have become a problem of the past. I’m not going to claim that my writing skill or technique has improved, and that my emails, notes, minutes, reports, etc are all works of art (they’re not!) – what’s improved is my ability to just write. I’m really glad of this, because written work that would have taken me hours, days, to squeeze out of myself in the past, no longer make me break out in a cold sweat. (I still need to work on my Fear of Writing for (Traditional) Publication – writing my blogging article is proving very difficult.)
5 Comments
I have come to realise that my ability to write is often about the ability to START to write. Only when one starts can one rewrite, and rewrite some more to get things right. This is pretty darn obvious but the hardest part for me is overcoming procrastination paralysis plus convincing myself the writing process is not as painful as I think. I am, admittedly, not a natural born writer who creates beautiful prose once she starts writing. Neither am I a good storyteller. Yet, I refuse to let myself be bad at what I do for a living. And so I have to work hard at it. That is my pain. Sigh!
Fear Of Writing? Surely you jest.
Actually that’s kinda ironic – if the writer could come up with 5 blog entries, there’s no conceivable reason why she then couldn’t have come up with 1 decent paragraph of prose.
I don’t buy her argument. If anything, I believe that blogging brings out the writer in the person and not hide it.
And I concur with Cherry: fear of writing? Heh. How can you fear it if you love it? 😉
I know just what you mean about the fear of writing thing. It’s kind of ironic, but I’ve always loved writing. I’ve just always hating having to show that writing to ANYONE. (I know why, too, but it’s a long story including allergy-induced near-dyslexia that was unresolved until I was in college.)
Spell check as gone a long way towards liberating me, and my blog has done another huge chunk of my therapy. 🙂
Hi JL, I completely relate! Blogging has helped me overcome the Fear of Starting, a bit. But yes, I definitely have to work hard at it – maybe not so much when blogging, because there’s less pressure there, but definitely in other writing.
Cherry, no, not jesting here.
🙂
Hi Mooiness, I guess the writer’s point was that she wanted to write a novel but the blogging was taking her away from it. And I suppose if you have only so many hours a day to devote to writing (your novel), and you’re spending a good proportion of your time blogging instead, that does have an impact.
Oh, and I don’t love writing. I’ve always found it difficult – especially when writing for an audience, even an audience of one (eg assignments), but blogging has broken through that fear/dislike threshold for me. So now I’m beginning to be able to say that I like writing. Kind of.
Hello Iris, blogging as therapy? Yes, I can relate to that 🙂 Here’s to the journey!