The other day at The Big Corporation, my friend Slim said “Hey! I liked Maiden Voyage.” Her name isn’t really Slim, but it could be because she’s tall, slim, and pretty, just like a super model. Think Gisele Bunchen without the attitude. Slim would never say “my husband cannot BLEEP throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.”
Her dog, Bailey, really is a super model.
He’s retired now, but at one time, he was on the cover of a catalogue that sold dog sweaters, dog slippers, and dog smoking jackets. Sadly, he doesn’t read my blog.
Supermodel or not, I had no idea Slim was reading my blog so I said “Hey! Thanks!” We talked about blogging for a few minutes and then she said “It’s weird, but I can hear your voice when I read it.”
I looked away for a minute because I had to wipe a little tear from the corner of my eye. It made me happy to know my words matched the thoughts that came out of my mouth from time to time. Of course, Slim sat next to me for two years, so maybe my voice had worn a groove into her ear drum.
I started thinking about blogging and how much fun it has been this past year. I was nervous when I first started writing and hanging things out on the internet; there are many talented people who have a lot to say. People with vast amounts of knowledge, expertise, and talent produce bundles of information and stick it out on this electronic clothesline for the world to see. From time to time, I will talk to people about blogging and they’ll say “oh, I could never do that.”
Blogging may not be for everyone but I have found it to be an easy way to experiment in the “writing” racket. I had some creative talents that were rotting on the vine of my life.
For every person who might have a rotting grape somewhere in their life, I present five reasons to pluck it and start writing a blog;
- You have something to say,
- You write Facebook posts extending beyond the “see more” break,
- You want to create your own little world,
- You want to highlight other people, places, and things, and/or
- You want to change yourself.
You have something to say
I am always amazed when I remember that Emily Dickinson’s first book of poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death. According to her biography, “it met with stunning success.” Some might say “it is what it is,” but every time my birthday rolled around I would lament that another year had passed and I hadn’t written any letters to the world. I had a few things to say. The practice of writing every day has helped sharpen some of my thoughts and has revealed where they are cloudy and weak. Although this blog has not yet met with stunning success, my letter to the world is now in the mailbox.
You write Facebook posts extending beyond the “see more” break
Facebook is fun, isn’t it? It’s like a giant buffet of words, pictures, ideas, games, and emotions. Sometimes, it’s like a big, rolling trash can. One of my friends from home writes the most beautiful, poignant posts. He really has something to say and I’m glad he shows up in my Facebook news feed. His status updates are generally at least 500 words long, he always has a thesis, he supports his thesis with logical ideas, and then he makes a conclusion. He’s inspiring and he has almost 900 Facebook friends, too. The problem is that sometimes right after he posts an amazing piece, someone else posts a picture of their non-supermodel dog taking a dump and his post rolls by. I don’t get around to reading it. If he had a blog, I’d read it religiously.
You want to create your own little world
My daily weekday goal has always been to arrive at The Big Corporation no later than 9:00 a.m. Yet every day, by the time I’ve showered, dressed, ironed, prepared my lunch, composed my thoughts, and loaded up the Jeep, I’m late. It was stressful. I even wrote a blog post about it. Ever since I wrote that post, I’ve been at peace about my 9:30 a.m. arrival. Why? Because when I pass the intersection where the Federal Express trucks leave their local hub, I’m comforted to see them heading out onto the highways and byways, delivering the world on time. It makes me laugh and I say to myself “I’m living in my blog.” The sun is almost always shining in my blog.
You want to highlight other people, places, and things
Good, bad, and interesting things happen every day. Places burn their image into memory. People are born, they live, and they die and sometimes in that span of time, they affect us. All of these topics are fodder for a blog. Some of my most popular blog posts have been when I’ve swung the spotlight onto some other person, place, or thing. I love telling someone “I wrote about you on my blog today!”
You want to change yourself
Anchovies might just be the most maligned pizza topping in the world. Bands have written songs which have kept people from eating this freaky preserved fish product and who was I to tell people to eat more anchovies? I’d never eaten one myself. One day an anchovy strayed onto a slice of pizza I was eating and it was delicious. Then I had some in a Caesar salad. Now, I’m an anchovy fan; they have lots of healthy qualities. But until I changed my anchovy habits, I had no business telling other people The J. Geils Band was full of BLEEP about anchovies. Since I’ve changed myself, I can confidently say “Don, that bowling ball is not your wife.”
Start a blog today; it’s still free and so are you.
This rosemary sprig came from a bush in the now-cold and snowy Hampton Victory Garden. It was the minimalist amount to conjure the sights and smells of summer.
Julie-Ann Baumer 
Tiny Steps
Yesterday, one of my commenters, Wingnut on the Loose, suggested I had been taking liberties with my readers by writing about foolish things like growing a spine, crossing the road, and eating cold pizza and Junior Mints on New Year’s Eve. Feedback is a powerful thing. Although the nature of “blogging” (if there is any nature to it at all) lends itself to self-disclosure and taking liberties with words, I want to bring my Sunday’s best to the blogosphere and give my readers what they want.
One of my friends, not a blog commenter, has suggested to me in private correspondence that there is a lack of a powerful voice in the gardening sector. She thinks I might be better served by writing more “how to” columns with practical tips. I couldn’t help but laugh when she said “I see you as the Julia Child of gardening, dispensing advice and good practice to the enthusiastic but untutored.”
Ever sensitive, I did cry a few big tears when I realized I was not giving my people what they wanted. Would they rebel and leave me? I ended up taking a very long walk to the Hampton Victory Garden, searching for the last pieces of kale in a desert of snow.
The garden is just a memory now, but I was able to rustle up a whole bag of kale. Silent and stoic, the kale said nothing about the blog.
Here’s some practical advice for all the enthusiastic but untutored gardeners out there:
Take some baby steps and inventory your seed stash today.
We’ll meet here again in a week; how about next Wednesday? Feel free to report the results of your inventory in the comments. Next week, I’ll dispense more gardening advice. I can’t guarantee what I’ll write between now and then.
Clown time is over.