Thursday, June 02, 2005

I have been wondering...

... why I blog. The last couple of weeks I have been thinking about my blog and and why I do it... What is it that has attracted me to this type of writing. I have always liked to write - but I was never any good at keeping journals. I would start out ok - Jan 1st, the first of a month, a Monday, all new beginnings. I would sigh with great anticipation as I looked at all those blank pages just waiting to be filled. By Jan. 5th, halfway through a month ,or on a Wednesday, I was quite sick of the whole process. I guess my life was not interesting enough to want to keep a track of it - let alone thinking that someone out there in my distant future may be even vaguely interested in reading about it... Plus I hated the whole 'do it everyday' mentality. I hated those journals that had the day and date neatly printed at the top. I think my paranoia rose to the fore - what if I missed a day?

Like a lot of people who write I liked to read - autobiographies and journals always proved fascinating reads - but of course they were written by famous and/or interesting people. They always had a lifestyle so diverse from my own I liked a 'peek' so to speak. As a browser of second hand books I delight when I find one that has an inscription on the fly leaf. Not so much the 'Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas ' sort - more the ones that were meant as some sort of inspiration from the giver to the potential reader... I remember one book that I came across that had so many personal reflections written that I felt like I had 'trespassed' on this person's life. I returned it to the shelf thinking that I would go on forever wondering about them if I took it home with me. But isn't that in some ways what journaling is about - if I was to read a diary of a drover's wife way back when - wouldn't I continue to wonder what was written between the lines. What was life really like for her - she has given me a glimpse - but what is the real picture?

But why do I blog? I was trying to think back to what induced me to start bloging. I have re- read my first entry and it went on about 'my creative journey' wanting to combine my writing with my creative life. So what - me, and a thousand other people too. What am I wanting to record and for whom or is that who? What do I actually get out of it? Where is my pay off in it?

I know other people read it - I have the stats. counter to prove it. But what is is that I want. Yes, I like that fact that other people read it for what ever reason - probably much the same as I read other blogs. For me it is a way to keep in contact with what other people are doing - both craftwise and life wise... But why the need to record it in this medium? Perhaps the exhibitionist in me... Perhaps I just think too much... More ramblings of a demented crafter...

Back to craft - more Go Lo yarn - this time a verigated blue. Scarf for youngest daughter - she chose the yarn so we are off to a promising start...

4 comments:

Jacqui said...

How do I get a stats counter? Would love to know if anyone has read my blog :) but ... what if no one does? LOL

Jacqui said...

Thank you for the counter info Sharlee :) it is working fine - just need some visitors! Try to kid myself I don't care if no one see it - but then why have I never managed to keep an ordinary diary?

Mary-Frances said...

I totally relate to your journal experience. I have always wanted to be a writer and sort of not been able to do it. Somehow this gives me an outlet...a day to day updating that somehow I feel someone might care about!

Linda said...

I have been using my "driving around" time for me to think about this nature/nurture stuff, and I am still no clearer.

I had a happy childhood with an artistic mother and a pratical father. I believe his practical streak makes me a craftswoman (something I am proud of), which obscures the fact I did not inherit my mother's artistic genes.

So then I go off down the "what is art and what is craft" line, and nature/nurture gets totally forgotten.

But basically I was brought up to value making things - my father was gardener ("I will have a hobby that makes money, not one that takes money" he would say, as his friends spent their money on motorbikes and boats). Because then I get led astray on "Is gardening a craft?" - answer - Yes.

But equally, Dad wasn't a fine craftsman - he was famous for never using a four inch nail where a six inch one would do. But he finished things.

My mother never did - it was the process, rather than the finished item, that was important for her. That is not me either. I finish things - or try to.

Gosh - you can go off in all sorts of directions in this stuff!