What's in a Blog?

This comic in today’s Washington Post got me thinking or rather stirred up some old feelings. I keep a journal. or a number of them, not too regularly, but over a long period of time. I’ve recently gone electronic via the program The Journal, but not everything in my journal gets posted to my blog. There is a huge difference between a personal, private journal and an internet blog. I’ve had a bit of trouble adjusting to that.

You write a journal generally for an audience of one: yourself. Or you might write it for future generations (I keep one for each of my kids detailing their formative years and little milestones). You can say just about anything as long as you’re comfortable saying it to yourself or your family. But you know what they say about the internet: don’t write in unless you are comfortable with EVERYONE reading it. On a blog, you have to be careful. You are a lot safer as an anonymous blogger than when appearing as the one-and-only you. Especially if parents and in-laws might be reading!

Some of the most effective bloggers I know personally manage to share as if they were writing a newspaper column rather than a diary. Lunzy at www.lunzygras.com is such a blog. I know Lunzy personally and would never guess that such a humorous wit was in there (no insult intented–it’s probably because I don’t get much time to actually converse with her with my kids running around like wild animals or clinging to me like baby monkeys). She’s got a real touch for finding the humor in the every day and for keeping it real.

Other bloggers are more serious but still as effective, but I guess I just am not comfortable with that level of personal sharing online or worry that the members of my family might come to regret it.

So, as I ponder this, my blog might change more to reflect less of my family life and more of my opinions of the world in general or whatever. I just have to tap into my narcissistic side to realize that maybe other people might find some parts of my life as funny as I do or that they might care about what I think.

Got opinions about what a blog should be? Let me know. I can use all the help I can get!