A Little More Personal
Well, well, well. What do we have here? An abandoned blog. *strokes my blog’s attention-starved head*
It’s taken me so long to come back mainly because I was unsure of what to say. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t like to speak unless there’s something important to say. Doesn’t really bode well for regular blogging, but that’s something I’ll have to work on. I’ve always been a private person. Most would call me mysterious. It’s not that I try to keep my life shrouded in secrecy; I just like my privacy.
As a writer, it’s hard to for your life truly be your own.
Your life oozes through every syllable you write, every line of dialogue your character speaks. Once you’re a (famous) published author, you’re a public figure. Your background gets called into question. Your family life becomes psychological assessment and fodder for readers & critics. I was reading this article about Harper Lee’s letters being sold. She’d been corresponding with a fan of hers for over 30 years. In a letter from 2003 she wrote, “Please don’t put this on the internet…”, and it’s disheartening that that’s exactly where excerpts of them ended up. Even as an 85 year old woman, Lee understands the power and the drawbacks of the Internet.
On the other hand, one of my favorite blogs is that of Chuck Wendig, the author of Confessions of a Freelance Penmonkey and Shotgun Gravy. [sidenote: Isn't "Shotgun Gravy" the best title you've ever heard?!] His blog serves as a wonderful resource for writers, a central location for his fiction books (which I haven’t read yet, but have a space on my Kindle with their names on it), and a place for him to showcase his illegally adorable son, whom he calls “B-Dub”. Along with his quick wit, love of profanity, and accessibility to his readers, you get a sense of who he is through his blog. Basically, his blog is what mine wants to be when it grows up.
So the question is, do I let you (the readers, the world) into my life so you can get to know me better or do I keep myself tucked away where you can’t connect with me or my work? The simplest answer I can give is: I’ll bring you as close as either of us can stand. What does this mean for The Filthy Truth? It means there will be a bit more of me here. Writing is a big part of my life, but it’s not the only part. You’ll see.