Monday 17 April 2017

#189 Liberation, on paper

I never used to care what I wrote here.

That's not quite true, I started paying more attention to things like how I ended the posts and whether they were too wordy. I'd write about more or less anything though, as long as it wasn't too weird or offensive. After all, what kind of blog would this be if I didn't write from the heart? Or the balls or wherever it comes from.

The problem was that there was a load of other stuff that I also wanted to write about. Personal stuff. Unrefined rambling, as opposed to semi-refined rambling. So I wrote a book. Then I finished it. I wasn't done though.

When I discovered Medium, which is like Youtube but for writing instead of videos, I started posting on there too. I'd duplicate what I wrote here. Facebook friends would follow links to Medium or Blogger but not both. I wouldn't link both because it was the same post on each site.

What to do?

The great thing about Medium is that it has a community feel to it. In theory, a complete nobody could write an article about climate change. Then Arianna Huffington could write one too and the two could read and comment on each other's posts. Technically, this chain of events a) could also happen on Blogger and b) isn't likely to happen on either site but my point is that it's easier to browse and share articles on Medium.

I didn't want to stop writing Something More Weekly. I'd been racking up a few hundred views a month, if I believed Blogger's stats, which I didn't but they still made me feel good. I'd known for a while that most blogs had a theme. That was alright with me. I could say "Sod most blogs" and I did for four years.

Once I started to browse other people's posts, it brought reality closer to home. I'd been writing every week for almost half a decade without reading any other blogs. They all had their categories. Topics. Identities. It was like each person was writing for some kind of purpose.

How messed up is that?

I felt like I wanted some purpose of my own though. I knew I wanted to get better at blogging and to do that, I'd need a sharper focus. I began to separate my posts. Those that were about the outside world, I put on Medium. Those that were about me, I kept on Blogger. I made a third place too. Somewhere to write freely. Anonymously. About anything.

Three channels. The ego, the superego and the id. An outlet for everything. I can write what I want, when I want, where I want. At last.

4 comments

Running on empty said...

Sounds like a plan, Dan!
A bit surprised that the book was unrefined. If you mean spelling and grammar wise, that's unusual, though not unheard of.

Kathy said...

It sounds very cathartic....keep on keeping on....

Profound Familiarity said...

There are things in the book that I wouldn't have put in the blog. It's unrefined in that sense.

Running on empty said...

I get it!