Like many active bloggers, I am not only a writer, I am also an avid reader. That is, I am a consumer of online content.
I have certain writers I follow, some of whom have come to my in-box for more than a decade, some are relatively recent additions. Whatever you might think about social media being increasingly about "shitposting," I assure you there is lots of high quality and thoughtful content out there... if you know where to look for it.
Mt. Shasta in the summer
And maybe there's a lesson of sorts there: A number of the bloggers I have followed over the year have moved their bases of operations from "mainstream" venues to their own free-standing platforms.
I guess you can do that, when you have a large dedicated following.
The Constant Reinvention Process
One of the fascinating things about the whole ball of wax is just how much people change.
I have often said that writing is very cathartic and healing for me... and that also seems to hold true for many others. The writing process — along with engagement and interaction — changes people, and often they reinvent themselves.
Some part of our reality is "triggered" and can result in some very unusual twists and turns.
Politically, people migrate from the left to the right, and from the right to the left. But that's only the start.
In the Water Garden
A few years ago, a deeply spiritual and very "woo-woo" blogger I follow suddenly "vanished" out of the blogosphere without any warning or announcement... and then suddenly re-appeared 18 months later as a hard-core science blogger dead-set on discrediting all things "woo."
Most recently, quite a surprise when one of my favorite small business and self-employment bloggers announced he was "hanging it up" and quitting. About four months later, "he" suddenly came charging back on the scene as "she," with barely an explanation!
What Do We Learn?
Blogging, for me, is an exploration. During the periods of my life when I have not been writing, I have always felt less as a result of not being engaged.
But I have to deal with the "realities" of life... which as often as not has revolved around simply not having the time.
An unusual visitor to our birdfeeder
Each time, I learn about myself that "I would rather be writing," than doing whatever else it is I am doing, in order to make my life possible. Historically, old "scripts" running in my psyche has separated my "writing" from the process of "making a living;" perhaps a hangover from childhood lessons that "artists, musicians and writers are inevitably broke."
It's probably a "real" reality.
What I have learned about myself is that I enjoy the interaction through the written word far more than I (generally!) enjoy interaction with people in groups or face-to-face.
It's probably because I have always been somewhat of a "slow thinker" and physical reality doesn't have a backspace key!
What I have also learned is that I really enjoy creating, and since I can't draw, sing or create music worth a damn, writing is my creative expression of choice. And I also recognize that if I don't create I have no chance at all of positively (hopefully!) affecting the world around me.
Thanks for reading!
How about YOU? Are you a regular writer? What surprises you about your process, and the process of others? Is writing somehow explorative, cathartic and therapeutic for you? Or is it just a means to getting a reward? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190220 13:08 PST
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