On Writing Toward Self-Belief
If you’ve been reading along, you know that I keep talking about blog anniversaries, because a lot of them have been happening lately and because long-term blogging obviously is on my mind given the restoration project here.
I’ve nothing deep on that count for this post. I just wanted to juxtapose a few things.
Dave Winer just hit 29 years, and I’ve no idea if it’s “without doubt the longest-running blog on the web” but if isn’t there certainly can’t be much in the way of competition. He posted that on the same day that tiramisú looked back on 100,000 words, having began at the end of June, and the same day that Whiona wondered what happened to blogging just for fun, having started toward the end of September.
It’s true that blogging never died but it certainly seems just as true that over the past five yeasr or so there’s been something of a renaissance that feels different. One that feels as if it’s setting down roots for the first time in a long time, beyond the usual suspects.
At the end of September, strandlines posted something of a self-reflection, looking at why they blog and why they’d lost their nerve. In it, they cite Nicky by way of Colin, and cite me, too.
My own particular angle is that there is always a tension in anything I do. Between my desire to do the thing, and my desire to not do the thing because of a lack of self belief and having to look that lack of self belief in the eye. One cancels the other out and so often the default is that the thing doesn’t get done.
That’s the thing about blogging, though. In a very real way, once you bin the content marketers and the “capitalist buzzword swill” Whiona rightfully deplores, blogging is writing yourself toward self-belief.
One of the things that means is that it’s okay to take breaks. It’s okay to not have anything you want to blog. It’s okay not to force yourself. It’s also okay to force yourself. It’s okay to use prompts. It’s okay to microblog. It’s okay to “macroblog”. It’s okay to blog ten times a day. It’s okay to blog once a month. Take note of the anniversaries, be they 29 years or 100,000 words. Also, don’t worry about the anniversaries.
You are a process. Being a person is a process. Writing about being a person can’t help but be a process, too. Self-belief isn’t a noun, it’s a verb.