Sunday, August 7, 2011

This Is Probably Not Worth Reading. Hooray!

Well, I've had some good ideas in my day, but apparently moving my blog to a professional-ish website wasn't one of them. I thought that I would take my writing more seriously if I had something a little fancier, the same way I keep promising that if we completely re-landscape the backyard, I'll actually sit outside.

Here's the truth about my attempt at a personal website. My favorite quote is by Ben Franklin: "If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing." So the goal with my new site was to write things worth reading; presumably, doing things worth writing would come later. Seems straight-forward, right? Problem is, it takes an awful lot of self-confidence to say, "This thing that I just wrote is worth reading." I've definitely written a few things that I love, but how can I stare at a blank blog page and tell myself to write something that people will like. That kind of pressure does not produce quality writing, I'll tell you that much. It produces months-long writer's block, is what it produces. Couple that with this lovely bit: the first strangers I told the name of my site to all thought that the site was for book reviews. Having to say, out loud, that I thought my own writing was worth reading...well, I don't have that kind of moxie. Maybe someday. But not now.

So I'm back. I brought over the 40 or so posts I made over the last year--the formatting's kind of funky, especially with photos, but whatever. I want to go back to writing about my life and my kids and my opinions on reality tv shows and my endless deliberations on what major to pick (yeah, I'm not making a compelling case for continued reading here, am I?) Most of all, I want to go back to the pressure-free environment, where everything I write does not have to be worth reading. Strangely, I produce my best stuff that way.

2 comments:

Drake Steel said...

Hi Emily,

You and your family ROCK!

I have recently had a revelation or two at how breathtakingly hard it is on 2 levels to write.

Level #1: Actually writing, no matter which medium you use, writing with ink and paper or typing into these new fangled computers. Either is hard.

Level #2: Saying things out loud because at some point you have to realize that what you say about anything says like 99 things about yourself. Once you are smart enough to realize that you can be defeated by knowing how much everybody who reads knows more about you than you might actually want them to know.

Bonus Level: I've gotten into writing a gratitude journal (even though Dr. Laura says that journaling tends twords negative things) gets me thinking about the fun things I'm surrounded by each day.

Dad

rachel said...

I JUST took this blog of my blog list in the past couple of weeks, since I figured you never posted on it. Go figure. I will be happy to hear your entries again. I miss them. And, I need a good laugh from time to time, and your stories make me laugh (see, I mean laughing WITH you, not AT you).