As I march through November, this series of posts, found through a link on someone else's blog, have given me much food for thought.
I think it's always something to weigh and consider. Writing about your life (and reading incessantly about others' lives) or living your life? Can you do them both? It's something I've been wondering, and she puts it more articulately than I ever could, getting at thoughts that have danced around on the edge of my own consciousness for months.It's not about NaBloPoMo, which I've begun see as mere homework, but about the whole gestalt of the thing, which for me has been a big focus shift; concern for comments, reading others' pages, following links, making comments, etc. Brings me joy, but causes concern as well, as to where all my time goes.
Still no rat/mouse. Grrrrrr.
6 comments:
Definitely food for thought. Thanks for the link.
Balance is the thing to seek, no matter what. But sometimes, like right now when the phenomena of blogging (something KOB of DCBlogs.com calls "citizen media") is really juicy, I'm OK with going a little overboard in the direction of the blogosphere. I think back to the salons at the turn of the last century, what a short term phenomena they were, and how here we are in the first decade of the new millenium, posting about our lives, sharing stories with people we would never connect with under any other circumstances. The fact that so many knitters are also bloggers seems perfect to me. Blogging is an energetic, ephemeral form of knitting - at least that's how it seems to me.
But then again I should say that I don't spend a lot of time blogging or reading - maybe an hour a day, well worth it because otherwise I wouldn't even know you exist, much less would I be privvy to your stories, insights and beautiful pics. I am pro-blogging, and I vote!
Keeping an online journal saved my life. Literally. I was drowning in my isolated despair. Without my diary I know in my heart I'd have killed myself by now. 5 years ago I was terrorized, lost and completely convinced that I and my pathetic life didn't matter, not even to my kids. Blogging a waste? A distraction from 'real' life? Not to this chick it isn't. ~LA
Reya, you are so thoughtful, and I have grown through reading your blog. I really appreciate your perspective on things.
LA, I agree that online journaling/blogging is a lifeline, as well as a time suck. My d-x journal was begun right after I moved to the East Coast, and helped me work through what would have otherwise been a very lonely transition. It continued to be a link to community and sanity, through these past 6 years, and another, much more difficult move.
I wouldn't have met YOU, Opal, had I not been tapped into the knitblog scene, and the whole online organization for knitters and the SnB culture.
I doubt I will abandon The Knitted Brow. I just wonder, at times, what my life and craft would be like without it. Would my dogs be better exercised? Would I have more finished knitted objects? Would I have more face-to-face friends? Would my house be cleaner? Would my private writing be better, more of an outlet?
I want to keep asking these questions, as I seek balance in my own life.
Very good food for thought for me, Kim, as I try to resurrect my online writing. I'm finding it incredibly hard to find a few minutes a day to post, which is in a way encouraging-- I feel like I'm more present in my life now, less occupied with recording than living.
But then again, I'm one of those few-friends type of people. I only need a few, and if I have a few online, I don't feel a need to venture outwards into "flesh and blood" relationships. Which I'm sure isn't best, although my personality prefers it.
Hmm.
Very good food for thought for me, Kim, as I try to resurrect my online writing. I'm finding it incredibly hard to find a few minutes a day to post, which is in a way encouraging-- I feel like I'm more present in my life now, less occupied with recording than living.
But then again, I'm one of those few-friends type of people. I only need a few, and if I have a few online, I don't feel a need to venture outwards into "flesh and blood" relationships. Which I'm sure isn't best, although my personality prefers it.
Hmm.
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