BLOGS DON'T HAVE TO BE GOOD TO BE ENGAGING, JUST TRUE; ASK LORIANNE

In my last post I wrote about "being one's own best friend" and a motivation to be personally "good enough".  It was a worthy and noble bit of prose that, in retrospect, reveals itself to me as none other than an awkward and strangely-worded attempt to justify my bloggings.


As with so many things in life, after writing and publishing most of my Wrights Lane items, I am left wondering if my effort was good enough to be of interest.  In exposing vulnerabilities and innermost thoughts and experiences, will I be taken seriously?  Will my message have any impact?  I struggle with the possibility that I fall short not only in my writing, but in other aspects of life as well, so by nature I am a second-guesser and wonderer. 


Are my expectations unrealistic or do I lack a degree of self-esteem?  Am I too hard on myself?...Perhaps a resounding "yes" to all of the above would be quite in order.


You can imagine, then, the significance of the following words from fellow blogster Lorianne DiSabato from her "Hoarded Ordinaries" web site:


"...Part of the allure of blogging, of course, is that it is a democratic genre.  You don’t have to be good in order to do it. Blog-reading is addictive because like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. There’s a random delight in hearing an average writer suddenly soar or a wondrous poet lament over a bout with writer’s block. We read (and write) blogs not because our writing is great everyday: we read (and write) blogs because everyday it’s great to be writing.  Both writing and photography are ultimately human acts, expressions of our human need to notice and be noticed. A blog doesn’t have to be good to be engaging; it simply has to be true."


What impresses me most about Lorianne's reassuring blog statement are the words "average" and "true" because my literary work is most assuredly average and I always place  emphasis on truth and engagement.


It takes one "hoarder" of ordinary thoughts and skills to appreciate another and to be reminded
that at least it is "great to be writing every day" and to share what is on our mind from a creative perspective.


Don't get me wrong though, I still strive to be "good enough" at what I do and to be my own best friend for the reasons stated in the post that follows -- and to satisfy a personal internal need to notice and to be noticed.

We bloggers are strange people.  Some of us more so than others!  We require allowances.