I haven't written a blog for at least five weeks? Why? Was I
too busy on my trip to California? Not really.
I experienced an existential
crisis about my blog shortly after I arrived on this trip. I found out 3
people I thought for sure were reading my posts weren't reading them at all.
Plus, I asked my son (who is himself
an excellent writer) for his honest
assessment of my writing. He kindly obliged and what he said shook me up. He
said I wasn't doing Blog writing at all. Mine were formatted incorrectly and
too long. Readers (he said) just don't want to have to slog through posts that are too
wordy. He was right of course. My friend Bronwyn also pointed out some time back
that my format was off. She was right too.
I was thinking how can I write shorter pieces
without just doing a Reader’s Digest version of my ideas? I felt like
Leonardo Di Caprio’s character Jack Dawson in the movie Titanic when he is alone at the bow of the ship with his arms out
stretched screaming into the wind, “I'm the King of the World”. What a romantic
moment right? Wrong! He’s shouting into the wind, no one hears him. He might as
well mime it. He’s not the king of the world; he’s a poor immigrant 2 days away
from being an ice cube bobbing in the water.
That was me, standing there at the bow of the ship with my
arms outstretched shouting into the wind “I'm a good blogger"! Uh huh, sure!
It was my serious intention to pull the plug on The Bailey Post. I didn't
write or even think about The Bailey Post for 5 weeks.
However, then something just as unforeseen happened. 4 people I was sure weren't
reading my posts all said to me at different times, “hey, keep sending me your
blogs, I really like reading them”. Hello Earth! Earth calling Will, come in please!
That changed my thoughts about the whole thing. I've decided I'm going to try to keep The Bailey Post going. I will try to
write shorter, blog-style pieces. I honestly don't know if I can. I've never written like that before.
I may still be shouting into the wind but at least I’m
feeling more confident now that I won’t be bobbing in the water 2 days from now.
