| Blog Entry - Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 | Add / Read (0) |
When I started Notesgirl.com, my goal was to market my book(s), participate in the Lotus community, and use it as a jumping off point for my contract work. Since then, I've been in various careers, in multiple fields, but I've kept my Notesgirl persona. Actually, I'm not sure persona is the right word - a persona implies that it's not the real me, and it is - there was a long-ago conversation with vowe and others that convinced me (if I needed convincing) that being as genuine as possible online as I am in person is the right thing.
But as I've grown and changed, I've changed the content here to fit more what's appropriate for what's going on at one time. Right now, for example, I'm writing my little fingers off for a few clients and job hunting and enjoying being a newlywed and worrying about a multitude of personal issues. In the past, I might've written about those personal issues - when I was confident that my employer and I had a meeting of the minds about personal blogging versus my professional duties. When your primary job is job hunting, however, you look at blogging completely differently. If I were looking only in one field, I might try to spend more time writing pertinent content for the site. Since my search is more broad, I have to look at the site as a potential early impression (yes, I know I need to revamp the color/layout). I hope that people will read what I write and see a person they're interested in working with. I hope to have them see me - the real, genuine person - and want to work with that person.
But thinking of various interviews and conversations the past weeks, I have to consider: what if my admission of problems and issues - among other blog entries of course - comes across the wrong way? Should I keep those personal preoccupations to myself? Does it help anyone, myself included, to write about them here? When I had a specific place in a community, my occasional forays into writing about my personal life were a way of keeping my personal connection to a community that has been wonderful to me. Most of the readers of my blog knew me in real life, and actually cared when something was on my mind. When some others have posted about their problems and processes, we have felt as though we were not alone, and understood ourselves and our friends better (thanks Duff, and others). Of course, when I write, my thoughts become more clear, so I write at least partially to help me work through things (and just writing a diary doesn't work the same way - we think differently when we we write knowing there's a potential audience),
So, the questions are on my mind at the moment: who reads notesgirl.com, what are they (you) interested in, for whom do I blog - myself or my readers, when does my blog help me and when does it hurt, how do I best balance all the things I'm interested in writing and thinking about with what readers might be interested in reading and with a changing professional life... All of you who blog and write for public consumption have dealt with these issues in one way or another - and some of you have changed what you share over time, as I have. I don't think I have a conclusion right now, but thanks for letting me think aloud with you.
And for a few personal tidbits:
- Happy four-month-iversary to my nice husband, who has been taking excellent care of me and making all kinds of happy memories.
- Happy birthday (recently belated or upcoming) to Julie and Margo and Jessie and Rob and Guy and Popop.
- Registered for the Houston half-marathon - just snuck in before it sold out. Must get serious about the running again.
- Can't wait for the finances to ease a bit - I miss yoga classes. I think I'm going to try to add teaching some yoga to my repertoire if I can find the right spot.
- Thank you for all the folks who kept up with me while Philip and I were in Orlando for the shuttle launch - it was fun chatting and twittering and facebooking with you.
- Deep and abiding thanks to those of you who support me and help me and care about me whether I'm going through good things or challenges. My circle of friends and acquaintances is something I cherish.
Author: Libby Ingrassia
Posted at: 11:34:22 AM
