I've been a bad blogger...but I'm not sorry.
Originally posted July 22, 2011
I've been a bad blogger. When I started this blog, I had the notion I'd post a new blog at the end of each completed chapter. Life, however, often has a way of slipping distractions past my meager defenses. So, against all advice to the contrary, I've neglected my blog.
I have always had an inexhaustible curiosity. Facebook photo albums can suck me into a cycle of "click, browse, repeat" that has me viewing pictures of a friend's-boyfriend's-mother's-cousin's new puppy, before I realize that I've clicked two hours away I could have used to do something far more productive. Often, I assuage the guilt by reading various blogs with vitally important knowledge of writing and publishing.
By the end of a session of blog-reading, I'm often overwhelmed with information and opinion, curled into near-foetal position and fighting the urge to go back to Chapter one and edit it "just one more time".
This susceptibility to diversion can't be blamed on the internet, though for my particular addiction it could be considered the most insidious enabler. I'm just as prone to wander off course when taking a walk in a park, or worse, roaming through a mall.
I remember once, walking through a major department store with my ex-husband, I caught a glimpse of a shiny new perfume display. At one time I collected perfume bottles simply to display them for the beauty of the glasswork. That one display led me to another, then a perusal of the selection, then a discussion with the clerk about various new scents. The woman at the counter sprayed a little of one scent on my wrist. As I turned back to my partner I asked, "What do you think of this scent, Honey?"
I found myself looking at the chest of a complete stranger who cheerfully replied, "I'm not your Honey, but you smell really good."
I found my ex-husband wandering another department, chattering away at air, completely oblivious to the fact that I'd wandered off at all.
Our family recently took a four day vacation, an annual event, at a rented cottage on a small lake in the Haliburton, Ontario area. With very basic phone service and no internet connection, I was forced to disconnect myself from the global community. Being on a lake with two toddlers assured my undivided attention be focused on their entertainment and safety, in a way our child-proofed home does not. I read nothing. Not a word was written for those four days. After returning home my mind lingered in an idyllic state. The various social forums I patronize seemed overwhelming now. How was I going to get my family back to routine, return to writing and catch up on my many internet obligations?
"Wait a minute!" I thought to myself. "Are they really obligations? Do I really need to apologize to all my Twitter followers for not posting 'shout-outs', my few blog readers for the elapsed time between posts and my Facebook friends for not responding to their e-mails right away?" Good marketing says "yes".
A voice, remarkably like that of my no-nonsense Granny spoke up then. It shouted, "Are you a marketer, or a writer?"
Before the echoes had faded, my priorities snapped into place. I AM A WRITER. I must write or wither.
So…… I won't apologize, here, for the delay between blogs. I won't scramble to make up for the things I've left undone, as they are only obligations because I have made them so.
What I will do is take a moment to say; "Thank-you, Dear Readers, for following my ramblings. Know that I am still committed to writing. Know, also, that I will be spending less time online until I've completed writing this book. Please be patient with me. I am honoured by the time each one of you takes to peek into my world."
I've been a bad blogger. When I started this blog, I had the notion I'd post a new blog at the end of each completed chapter. Life, however, often has a way of slipping distractions past my meager defenses. So, against all advice to the contrary, I've neglected my blog.
I have always had an inexhaustible curiosity. Facebook photo albums can suck me into a cycle of "click, browse, repeat" that has me viewing pictures of a friend's-boyfriend's-mother's-cousin's new puppy, before I realize that I've clicked two hours away I could have used to do something far more productive. Often, I assuage the guilt by reading various blogs with vitally important knowledge of writing and publishing.
By the end of a session of blog-reading, I'm often overwhelmed with information and opinion, curled into near-foetal position and fighting the urge to go back to Chapter one and edit it "just one more time".
This susceptibility to diversion can't be blamed on the internet, though for my particular addiction it could be considered the most insidious enabler. I'm just as prone to wander off course when taking a walk in a park, or worse, roaming through a mall.
I remember once, walking through a major department store with my ex-husband, I caught a glimpse of a shiny new perfume display. At one time I collected perfume bottles simply to display them for the beauty of the glasswork. That one display led me to another, then a perusal of the selection, then a discussion with the clerk about various new scents. The woman at the counter sprayed a little of one scent on my wrist. As I turned back to my partner I asked, "What do you think of this scent, Honey?"
I found myself looking at the chest of a complete stranger who cheerfully replied, "I'm not your Honey, but you smell really good."
I found my ex-husband wandering another department, chattering away at air, completely oblivious to the fact that I'd wandered off at all.
Our family recently took a four day vacation, an annual event, at a rented cottage on a small lake in the Haliburton, Ontario area. With very basic phone service and no internet connection, I was forced to disconnect myself from the global community. Being on a lake with two toddlers assured my undivided attention be focused on their entertainment and safety, in a way our child-proofed home does not. I read nothing. Not a word was written for those four days. After returning home my mind lingered in an idyllic state. The various social forums I patronize seemed overwhelming now. How was I going to get my family back to routine, return to writing and catch up on my many internet obligations?
"Wait a minute!" I thought to myself. "Are they really obligations? Do I really need to apologize to all my Twitter followers for not posting 'shout-outs', my few blog readers for the elapsed time between posts and my Facebook friends for not responding to their e-mails right away?" Good marketing says "yes".
A voice, remarkably like that of my no-nonsense Granny spoke up then. It shouted, "Are you a marketer, or a writer?"
Before the echoes had faded, my priorities snapped into place. I AM A WRITER. I must write or wither.
So…… I won't apologize, here, for the delay between blogs. I won't scramble to make up for the things I've left undone, as they are only obligations because I have made them so.
What I will do is take a moment to say; "Thank-you, Dear Readers, for following my ramblings. Know that I am still committed to writing. Know, also, that I will be spending less time online until I've completed writing this book. Please be patient with me. I am honoured by the time each one of you takes to peek into my world."
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