Thanks for that. The hardest part for me isn't the writing, it's the one-way nature of the interaction most of the time.
There's this imaginary scene I have from when I was much younger: a woman is in a 2nd or 3rd floor room overlooking a busy but cosy urban center--the sort that has a town square and lots of little shops and people constantly passing by. And she's looking down at everything going on down there and imagining herself as part of it. Finally she gets the courage up to go downstairs and into the square...and when she gets there it's empty and silent. That's me, seeing other people socialize.
But blogging is sort of the opposite of that. Blogging is: I'm playing the piano in the middle of the town square, but I have a blindfold on, so I can't tell if anyone is listening, or if they enjoy it, or if maybe the town square is completely empty. And maybe no one is clapping or saying anything about the music because they just want to listen and enjoy it, or maybe no one is clapping because I'm playing concertos and they wanted jazz, or maybe they're just in a hurry to get to work. So if I play, I have to play for my own enjoyment. But if there *are* people listening and enjoying the music, they need to know that engagement will add to my enjoyment and make it more likely that I'll keep on playing.
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Date: 2016-12-09 03:17 pm (UTC)There's this imaginary scene I have from when I was much younger: a woman is in a 2nd or 3rd floor room overlooking a busy but cosy urban center--the sort that has a town square and lots of little shops and people constantly passing by. And she's looking down at everything going on down there and imagining herself as part of it. Finally she gets the courage up to go downstairs and into the square...and when she gets there it's empty and silent. That's me, seeing other people socialize.
But blogging is sort of the opposite of that. Blogging is: I'm playing the piano in the middle of the town square, but I have a blindfold on, so I can't tell if anyone is listening, or if they enjoy it, or if maybe the town square is completely empty. And maybe no one is clapping or saying anything about the music because they just want to listen and enjoy it, or maybe no one is clapping because I'm playing concertos and they wanted jazz, or maybe they're just in a hurry to get to work. So if I play, I have to play for my own enjoyment. But if there *are* people listening and enjoying the music, they need to know that engagement will add to my enjoyment and make it more likely that I'll keep on playing.