The Trouble With Blogging

Do you know me? If you’ve been following along over the past year, year and a half, two years that I’ve been blogging, you probably know me better than some of my friends (can they really be called friends if they’re not reading my blogs?). I tend to reveal too much. I don’t have many secrets or evil thoughts—and the ones I do have I save for my novels (which you haven’t read yet because I’m too much like Salinger: I like to write too much to stop long enough for publication)(yep, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). But back to my point. If you know me, then you know my trouble with blogging.

I talk too much!

Especially after my coffee, which I call Truth Serum. Which I have just drank drunk consumed.

Take for instance my last post, below, How To Write A Bad Review. It’s not a bad post, but I could have gone on for hours about how it might apply to, for instance, bosses: How to give a bad review to an employee. Or to parents: How to straighten your kids out without alienating them. Or even to friends or spouses: How to tell someone you love something they’re doing wrong and still have them walk away from your conversation knowing you love them and making them think they’re good people who can do better. But then I just stopped writing because…

When I get deep into a really good thought for a blog post, it makes me crazy that I’m not working on my novel! It’s the same with reading a good book. I want to read, but more importantly, I want to write! I know the experts say we’re supposed to blog 3x/week, but I’d usually rather spend that time writing.

Allison Scotch Winn wrote an excellent post about how she does it all: writer, blogger, mom, wife. She is whom I aspire to be. But for now, I’m going to go work on my novel which I love and can’t stop writing.

Does anyone out there feel they have found a good balance with all the activities they like to do? Please tell me your secrets!

Heart and Soul

“I am an all or nothing person.”  So says Danny King, the protagonist of my novel, That Changes Everything, and so says I.  Has it really been a month since I’ve written a blog?

I’ve been writing!  A lot.  I finished the first draft of my novel, all 73,000 words, and for about two days I was so excited and happy with it.  Then, like the devil perched on my left shoulder, whispers of doubt invaded my head.  What about this scene?  What about that scene?  Is this character entirely believable?  Totally sincere?  So even before I print off copies or send out query letters, I’m back to writing, and writing, and writing.  And reading.

A wise young man I know, also a writer, has an ongoing debate, with himself or anyone whom he can engage:  Is it better for a writer to read other great writers, or is it better for the writer in question to just get out there and live life, then write their own story in their own voice?  Ooh, good question.

The answer has many arguments, but like nature vs. nurture, I absolutely think it should be a combination.  No great stance, or position there, I realize, but how could one argue differently?

Off to read and write, not necessarily in that order.

Best wishes, Karolyn