Well, I came by to change the age on my profile, since as of last week I'm a "32-year-old southerner turned midwesterner." Yes, yes, I had a birthday. And I did all the required introspection and ate a lot of chocolate. (Kudos to Bryan for creating the "Melting Pot at Home" experience. See, I normally like to go to the real restaurant, but this was a creative and VERY well executed fondue experience where I got to wear my PJs. He's a good boy.)
Let's get down to business: Lately I've struggled with what's "okay" to write about here. I started MRF thinking of it as a good journaling incentive. Journaling is a great way for me to dump everything out of my brain. This is important, because if things are allowed to stay up there, I will overanalyze them. Plus, it's dark and moldy and nothing deserves to stay locked up there forever.
I have an impressive stack of beautiful real-world journals. Every unmarked, gilded-edged page is a testament to how bad I am at actually using them. When I'm at the bookstore the thought of the Zen I will experience writing in THIS journal is exhilirating. THIS one will be different. But the never-writing-in-them part makes it kind of a waste. So, I skipped the journal 12-step program and just quit cold turkey. I figure, Blogger is free, and there's some accountability involved since one of you nice folks might pop over to see if there's a post.
HOWEVER, I've started to worry about when/if someone from church will find MRF, or if a coworker will find it. Which has really stunted my writing because lately there are things going on at both church and work I've wanted to write about. And, if the wrong person happened upon my little web island, an honest post could hurt someone. If dooce has taught us anything, it's that writing about your job is dangerous. Sigh. Blog ethics suck.
I know some of you blog about personal things. What are your boundaries? At some point I decided to post my picture, but now I'm not sure that's the best idea. Maybe I should use a cookie instead.
Am I overreacting? I mean, what are the chances a person from real life that I haven't actually sent a link would find MRF? Probably slim to none. Any thoughts on this?
6 comments:
It's a constant process of figuring out where the line is as far as what you'll share. As far as stuff involving other people is concerned, I try never to write anything about anyone that I wouldn't sit in a room with them while they read. Even if I can't imagine any way they'd ever find it, because you just never know. It's when it comes to personal stuff of my own that I have a harder time deciding what to share and what not. I tend to err on the side of undersharing. Then again, my blog was never meant as a journal so much as entertainment/means to a humor writing career, and my full name is on it, so it's a different ballgame.
Also, happy belated birthday!
You know me...I say dam the torperdoes...fire away....write it all...ask questions later. Of course that general philosophy has a tendancy to get me in trouble sometimes, but what the hay...live a litte. 8-)
Ooops..that wasn't Jenn...that was me..."Bryan" the husband....Sorry Jenn.
Me Like Coooookieeeeee!
I write about some things that are ... questionable and then just pray like heck that the "wrong" person doesn't stumble upon them. Then again, I accidentally let an ex-bf know about my blog because it was listed in my e-mail signature for a while. I quit that habit darn quick!
Some days I write posts that I never publish. They go in a separate file. I'm glad to have written them (if for no other reason than to get the words out of my head) but about halfway thru the post I'll realize there's no way the words can see the light of day. Or the light of the Internet.
Other times I'll give myself some time to decide if I want to post an entry or not. Just because it's written doesn't mean it's ready for prime time.
In the end, though, I think it's what YOU feel comfortable with.
Happy Birthday!
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