I have loved this time off to think and sleep and rest. I spent a good couple hours today journaling and enjoying the solitude of God's presence. I was writing about a few of the recent emails I received from readers and prayed for the concerns and situations they shared with me. Then I started thinking of the parallels between writing a personal book and writing a blog. The thing about a blog is that a stranger can access your thoughts and in doing so, develop a sense of relationship to you without your knowledge. As I spent WAY too much time losing myself in the blogs of others in the last few days, I noticed several posts along these lines as bloggers wrestle out the pros and cons of revelation and restraint. There's great freedom in flinging your thoughts out into the blogosphere, but a bit of paranoia knowing that the wrong person might choose to use your words against you. For me, blogging is an extension of my writing, and those extremes are just an extension of the ramifications of being a writer. There is an odd, but wonderful, bond my readers share with me when they write. Even in interviews, I'm asked about my dog and the COWS (you'll have to read my book to understand that one). The nature of my book necessitates a certain level of vulnerability, I suppose, in order to develop the trust of my reader and credibility that I'm not this expert, detached professional talking about "them." I'm just a messed up child of God, muddling through life the best I can, as authentically as I can, as Christlike as I can. I share some of my foibles and fumbling in the book, and if you follow along here, you'll find more, I'm sure.
Long preface aside, I decided to post my reasons for blogging. In no particular order:
* To learn a new form of media for personal and professional use
* As a way of keeping friends and family up to date
* To post current (and less important) news on my book's ministry to those who venture here
from my site
* For an extra level of accountability that I am living out the things I profess in my book
* To provide an outlet for writing during a season when future writing projects are "on the shelf"
No comments:
Post a Comment