To Blog or Not To Blog

Blogging, blogging, blogging. I keep kicking the idea around.  Everyone is doing it. Which may be one reason why I haven’t.  It feels like yelling “Look at me!” Of course, if you happen to look at me, of your own volition, and you think I’m fabulous, that’s great. Thank you. Everyone likes to be liked. But I’m not comfortable being the center of attention. I’m also not comfortable lining myself up to be taken down execution style by criticism. Constructive criticism I value. “You’re a shitty writer,” “Everything you say is stupid,” “You are wrong, wrong, wrong,” are not things I’d like to hear.  So, why blog? 

1. Validation (writing is not a waste of time)
2. It’s fun to write something and share it.
3. It’s an opportunity to connect with people who “get it”. 
4. I have something to say, and people I admire have asked to hear it. 
5. There are blogs I connect to, and learn from. 

I’d like to write one of those blogs. I don’t think those bloggers are showing off. I enjoy their writing, and I’m thankful I get to read it. I love a blog that is real, insightful, original, and occasionally laced with profanity.  I don’t love blogs/bloggers that...

1. Seem insincere.  (Nobody is that together.) 
2. Are all sunshine and light. (If you are that fucking positive, I cannot believe a word you say.)
3. Are too depressing. (I do realize I'm asking for the perfect balance between Debbie Downer and Pollyanna Sunshine.) 

     

If I could avoid these bad blog pitfalls, do I want to blog? Yes. What is holding me back? Fear. Fear of what? Over-sharing, not being good at it, a stalker finds me and becomes my “number one fan”, nobody reads it...

Other than the stalker thing, what if the worst I can imagine happens?  I can always quit.  I'm not marrying blogging, we’re just casually dating.  If it stops being fun, I’ll stop doing it.  I should get over my fears because I'd rather say “that didn’t work” than “I didn’t try”.  Why blog? If for no other reason, I could stop having this debate with myself.