Many times I have debated myself on this question. You see, I am a writer at heart. But I have too many channels and too many projects. I am spread thin. Some might argue that I’ve cheapened my words by how “frivolously” I share them. After all, a guy who runs seven blogs must not be sharing only gems, right?
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: writing in my journal restores me. It brings rest and comfort and reflection. It is inward facing. It has no ulterior motives. It wins me no recognition or respect.
Blogging, on the other hand, is extremely public. It puts my thoughts directly into the hands of the masses (or at least the masses who are interested). It’s not like writing a book, wherein I would carefully select the best pages and rewrite every sentence until the finished work was a work of art. No, and this is why so many self-proclaimed artists mock blogging as a powerful method of expression. They are old school, and old school says immediacy equals cheap. The real stars are hard to reach. They make themselves scarce so that when they do surface, their very appearance is newsworthy.
Blogs make us all so immediate and familiar. So much of the mystery is gone. You know what I’m doing on my vacation before I get home. You’ve seen the pictures and seen the updates on Twitter or Facebook. I have less influence upon you because of how easy it is to access me. By blogging and tweeting, I am not rare. I am common.
It’s easy to assume that someone who refuses to blog is more interesting, but they are merely more mysterious. And they are actually only mysterious if someone cares what they are thinking and feeling. An outsider must first be interested, then the subject must withhold easy access (i.e. immediacy). Only then is a person “mysterious”. Without outsider interest, the withdrawn person is simply forgotten and unimportant.
Blogs can have a similar but opposite function. By regularly posting, there is no surprise. So even if you, the outsider, is interested, the very quantity and immediacy of my thoughts makes me somewhat less powerful and important.
At least, that’s my initial take. Feel free to disagree.