The American writer Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) was once asked to describe the difference between writing a novel and writing a short story. Her answer--this may not be an exact quote--was that it was like finally emerging from wandering for a long time in a deep, dark forest only to be set upon by a pack of wolves.
I'm not sure what she meant exactly (more on this below) but I feel her pain. As a sometime writer of blogposts, I find that writing is fun except when it is anguish; it is easy except when it is extremely difficult. Most of the time I am my own worst critic and discard more posts than I publish.
Some bloggers seem to write with eloquence effortlessly while others seem to dump onto paper (okay, the screen) whatever garbage comes into their heads. Some pad their posts with photographs and some would never dream of doing that. Some strive to achieve a happy balance of words and pictures. Some blogposts succeed wildly and some fail miserably. The trick to successful blogging is being able to figure out which are which, to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The point Flannery O'Connor was making, I think, is that every type of writing is different; each type has its own set of surprises and challenges and obstacles to be overcome.
Why should blogging be any different? Some days I want to do it forever. Some days I never want to do it again. The best part, of course, is obvious: I get to interact with people I would never have met otherwise.
As Humphrey Bogart said to Ingrid Beegman in Casablanca, "Here's looking at you, kid."
I am a dumper. I write whatever enter my tiny brain and we are stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteEmma, I may or may not have had specific blogs in mind when I used the D-word, but yours was definitely not one of them. I am glad to see you out and about in Blogland once again!
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