To Blog or not to Blog
On the way to LA from Tokyo my nice, wide, comfy business class seat lost power just after dinner. No reclining, no reading light, no movies. With 10 hours to go in the flight. Power was out in the seat next to me as well and I ended up having a 10 hour conversation with the man I was seated next to. For someone who makes a point of not speaking to strangers I'm seated next to on planes and trains, this was the second time I've had an encounter with a stranger I was seated next to that really made me challenge the way I viewed my life. (Including my stance on talking to strangers!)
One of the points of conversation was about whether or not to keep blogging. This blog started at the request of the publicist for Lost Edens and I quickly realized I had very little to blog about if I was just going to blog about the book. I still try to mention Lost Edens as many times as possible (Lost Edens. Lost Edens.) but my main goal is trying to keep a daily blog, which means I write a lot about things unrelated to writing and publishing.
New story, same topic: one of my brother-in-law's friends died a couple of weeks ago after a prolonged struggle with alcoholism. To those who were close and tried to help, his death was very sad but not surprising. He spent most of his day online--he was, in fact, found at his computer--and all of his facebook and other online friends consistently expressed shock when they heard the news. He had seemed well to them.
I don't know what it is about blogging, facebook, and other online social media but I just can't decide if it's something I really want to be a part of. I'm not entirely convinced that you actually get genuine connections from these mediums, or an authentic life experience. And yet, I wouldn't be in touch with some people in any other way. I'm also not entirely thrilled anyone can google my name and get information that would more or less represent my life. And yet, I see how necessary it is if I'm going to continue trying to sell a story about my life.
So I'll keep blogging until I come to a conclusion. Or maybe someday I'll just wipe my online presence clean. Just think if I focused a little bit more on what was going on around me--I could have a few more than two landmark conversations with strangers and be all the wiser for it.
One of the points of conversation was about whether or not to keep blogging. This blog started at the request of the publicist for Lost Edens and I quickly realized I had very little to blog about if I was just going to blog about the book. I still try to mention Lost Edens as many times as possible (Lost Edens. Lost Edens.) but my main goal is trying to keep a daily blog, which means I write a lot about things unrelated to writing and publishing.
New story, same topic: one of my brother-in-law's friends died a couple of weeks ago after a prolonged struggle with alcoholism. To those who were close and tried to help, his death was very sad but not surprising. He spent most of his day online--he was, in fact, found at his computer--and all of his facebook and other online friends consistently expressed shock when they heard the news. He had seemed well to them.
I don't know what it is about blogging, facebook, and other online social media but I just can't decide if it's something I really want to be a part of. I'm not entirely convinced that you actually get genuine connections from these mediums, or an authentic life experience. And yet, I wouldn't be in touch with some people in any other way. I'm also not entirely thrilled anyone can google my name and get information that would more or less represent my life. And yet, I see how necessary it is if I'm going to continue trying to sell a story about my life.
So I'll keep blogging until I come to a conclusion. Or maybe someday I'll just wipe my online presence clean. Just think if I focused a little bit more on what was going on around me--I could have a few more than two landmark conversations with strangers and be all the wiser for it.
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