"To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." (ee cummings, poet)
I landed on something while skipping through the internets this afternoon that lit a bottle rocket in me and I came out here intending to offer a few of my own thoughts on a topic that means a lot to me - what it is to tend a blog. As I was writing, the post kept growing and expanding, and it got a little, er, feisty, almost lawyerly (yikes) and I had to remind myself that all the world does not want or need to know my opinion on absolutely everything (or maybe even anything at all) and I hit the delete key.
I then wrote a condensed version, but deleted that too (what happens when you rail against rules for blogging, is that you unintentionally - heh - end up making different rules).
So what I ended up with, was this:
If you blog (or want to), the only absolute requirement is: be you.
Be. YOU.
All the other things you might worry about (especially if you're brand new to blogging) will fall in to place if you put authenticity first.
15 comments:
Love the journal spread - and the post. Your words of wisdom are great too.
wonderful post and journal pages!!! love the fishbowl dress. :)
You are so absolutely right, correct, right-on! I am so happy to hear someone put it just that way. I often wonder who makes those silly blogging rules. Oh don't get me going. Be YOU. So simple. Such a perfect rule.
So true!
I understand what you mean--that's the reason why we start blogs, and then somehow we kind of forget--but I totally agree!!! I'll be me--take it or leave it :)
Beautiful pages,and I wish you left your really long post it sounds interesting.But great words of advice anyway!
Good encouragement. Thank you. Lovely spread as well.
oo this is weird...I just posted a quote by Helen Keller on my blog that spoke of this same concept. After posting, I checked out my google feed and saw this which just reinforced it. It's hard to be yourself sometimes, but it's the only time I'm every truly and completely content. There's something to say for that! :)
Thanks for those words, I'm always trying to follow that rule. :-) Oh, and Beautiful journal page - love the muted colors!
really love this! fantastic work.
This page just draws me in. I keep enlarging it and studying it...and just, WOW! Well written post, too. Sometimes my blogs get "lengthy!" And, probably nobody much cares, but know what? That's usually when I'm trying to figure something out. It can be both weird and insightful to go back to read them. I guess sometimes I just write for me.
i love coming here, jeannine - what you write and paint is so authentic and i always feel like we're getting a good dose of YOU when i visit. as for the write/delete part, i totally get this!! i've written many lengthy posts too and then realized at the end that they are simply unbloggable. deleted them and started over. but writing those ghost posts are sometimes very cathartic! i call it blogging in my head. hit that mental publish and it's off my mind.
of course, now i'm itching to know what lit your bottle rocket on fire ;)
Oh wow, you hit a chord with this one, in fact my post this morning was about how starting a blog has somewhat changed my life. I am very new to this but you hit it exactly right, that is the most important thing.
And I love ee cummings, always.
And your constellation quote is phenomenal.
Thanks for all the great comments - I love hearing what you have to say (and enjoy reading YOUR blogs!). As for what set me off? Well, the only things I can politely say: there is no such thing as a value hierarchy for your blog posts and you never ever ever ever - ever! - need consult a flow chart to decide what is worth blogging about. Flowcharts are for corporations, not blogs. ;)
I found your blog today and I absolutely love it! Your journal pages are super fabulous!!! I'm your newest follower!!
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