Why I blog...
I’ve been quiet for the last couple of weeks here at Millennial Gent. It has been a hectic time at work and one of the side effects of writing for a living is that when work is busy the blog can get pushed to one side.
This is partly because of time constraints and partly because when I have spent a day looking at a computer screen, blogging is not at the forefront of my mind.
There is the old adage that goes around which says you should find three hobbies in life; one to make you money, one to keep you fit and one which allows you to be creative. The obvious issue for someone in a line of work like mine is that writing is both a money-maker and a creative hobby.
It got me thinking about why I write and – more pertinently – why I blog.
I have mentioned in the past that Millennial Gent is not my first stab at having a blog. I never really made one work before because I was always trying to find something to blog about. Something to be the authority on. But it never quite worked out.
I’ve always said – only partly joking – that one of the attractions of journalism is that I get to write about lots of things all the time. My attention span doesn’t lend itself well to doing a single thing for a prolonged period.
In recent days when I have been trying to get something up on the blog I have been worrying about it not being good enough or being too rushed, and have canned it. That is, if I’m honest, one of the other reasons my last few attempts failed.
Then I saw a quote from the French-American diarist and writer Anaïs Nin.
“We write to taste life twice”
It is a neat, pithy and inspirational quote which would fit perfectly stuck up next to a work desk, or scribbled in a journal – yes or on a blog, point taken. But it is a useful epithet to draw the distinction between personal blogging and work writing.
All factual writing is tasting life twice; reviewing and reimagining facts, figures, events or people which you have seen. I’m sure there’s an argument that fiction is the same, but that’s another chat. But the difference is that a blog is my personal corner of the internet.
So I’ve dispensed with the desire for perfection. Well, somewhat. When I first launched this I was putting things up because it was fun and I was excited about having my own spot to do so. I’m heading back that way with a few guiding principles.
Taste life twice – any experience, big or small, falls within the scope of being seen and enjoyed again.
Share with others – if I enjoyed it, or thought it was noteworthy, then someone else might too.
Examine your opinions – opinions are, as the saying goes, like assholes, in that everyone has one. But comedian, writer and general chap Tim Minchin wisely added that “opinions differ significantly from assholes in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined”.
So why not, I’ll put what I see and think up here and you lot can enjoy, ignore or react as you see fit. Seem like fun?
Photos courtesy of those lovely folks at Pixabay