Privacy and Blogging

I have a confession to make… this is my THIRD attempt at starting a blog. Now, I’m a big fan of things happening in threes, so I’m hoping this blog might be a bit more successful than the last two. What do I mean by success though? Certainly, I imagine a lot of ambitious, hopeful writers must start blogging in the hope that they get noticed. For me, it’s less to do with that and more to do with showing myself that I am capable of maintaining it. I’ve enjoyed writing since I was a child but never really ‘written’. I’m hoping that by doing this, I will get into a habit of writing, and ideally become a better writer as a result!

But of course, some people do go into blog writing with the intention of self-publication. They promote themselves on a variety of social networking sites, tweet and fap and post and blog. They expose and they endear, and they air a lot of dirty laundry…

I would not be the first person (or even the millionth) to say that blogging is like diary writing. It essentially is exactly the same thing; you’re often in the privacy of your own home, alone, as you use the written word to describe your opinions, your hopes and dreams, your likes and dislikes, your dinner and your day. The only difference being that instead of closing the cover and turning a teeny, tiny ineffectual lock before stuffing it in a shoebox under your bed (I had a little sister okay, I needed precautions!), you type it up and put it out for all the internet to see. Now there’s nothing wrong with this, and it would be strange for me to think so as I am indeed doing exactly that. It’s just that it is ever so easy to overshare.

Anyone who knows me in person will be able to tell you that I am the Queen of the anecdote. When I was younger especially, I used to go into far too much detail with new acquaintances and always regret it later. It is different on the internet though, as there is value in telling a good story, with all the dirty/ embarrassing bits included in splendiferous detail. It’s just that it’s out there forever.

I’m a big fan of Lena Dunham’s Girls, that sort of tell all exposé where warts are included whether you want to see them or not. That style of narrative is very popular currently, a product of our globalised, over-exposed society where everyone grows up watching porn and gun fights (right? I’m generalising here!)

At this stage in my blog writing, I have the choice as to how deep and dirty I want to get. If I keep it nice and PG then I can self-promote on Facebook, like I mentioned people doing earlier. But it might be a little tame and safe. If I want to write about truly intimate things, I risk people knowing far too much about me and possibly upsetting a few chairs and ruffling a few feathers. I probably wouldn’t be confident in outwardly owning the blog either, just in case a parent or relative got wind of it.

It is quite the dilemma, whether to be risky, raunchy but anonymous, or safe and obvious, but I suppose it’s not something I have to worry about yet. Maybe I should just write what I want to write and see what happens? It’s a bit egotistical to assume people will actually read this I suppose!