Thread Softly – You Thread On My Words

I am a bit in love with the idea of having nothing to declare but my writing.  No pictures. Just words.

I type, post, respond to and share whatever comes in, or I engage with the work of other blog posters who capture my fancy.

I love the idea, however fanciful, of people reading my stuff without pre-conceived notions. 

All you see on my blog is a head and shoulder photo, or my cartoon alter ego (done by the wonderful Paul Davies — whom I discovered via his blog/website, pauldavies.com).

So, in theory, anyone reading this will have to look past the usual stuff that feeds superficial perceptions.

You know accent, looks, foibles, dress … whatever.

Just let my writing stand, these black words on a white screen. And respond, interact, disagree, and preferably share.

Okay, if someone who knows me in “real life” is on here, I hope you can somehow silence your notions of me and just react to my thoughts and words here. And vice versa!

Yes it’s still me here, of course, but maybe an idealised me, a me who thinks before he writes, and tries to express his thoughts as eloquently and engagingly as he can.

A post from a blogger I like, Jonathan, who writes under the nom de blogeur, Strange Codex, really resonated with me.

In a post called Tilting at Blogging Windmills, Jonathan, who describes himself as having blogged since the dawn of blogging, describes the activity thusly:

“People sharing the days of their lives – posting candid adventures, thoughts, hopes and dreams for others to trip over as they wander past. Anything else isn’t really “blogging” in my mind – it’s certainly something, but not “blogging”.”

Okay, I would not be as pure, or maybe restrictive in what I would be advocating that people share here, but I love the lovely yearning quality, the pureness of what Jonathan is expressing.

It also captures really well, I think, the spirit of this thread, as Jonathan goes on to say how, after having spent a while reading other people’s blogs:

“I went to bed having discovered a number of wonderful writers, and wondered if my world might be just a little bit bigger than it had been at the start of the day.”

Bravo Jonathan! I adore that feeling of engaging and sharing with fellow bloggers and Twitterers, and feeling the world is a better place than you had thought as you tear yourself back to the “real world”!

Referring to “the little circle of candid story tellers I count myself a member of”,  Jonathan concludes his post:

“We’re not selling out. We’re not trying to create a brand. We’re just telling our stories, and maybe looking for one or two kindred spirits to share them with. We’re not stretching ourselves across ten social media accounts – posting little square photos, self obsessed videos, links to furnishing ideas, or any other bollocks. We’re just telling everybody how crappy our day was, or how (against all the odds) today turned out all right for a change. Here’s to us, and our stories, experiences, hopes, dreams, disasters, and whatever else we choose to share (you know, instead of packaging, marketing, and selling it)”

Now, I do not agree that commercial postings are “bollocks”, or do I subscribe in any way to this notion of selling out — I write for commercial gain myself in other capacities — it’s just I like the idea of a separate — not better! — thread for those of us who just want to tell our stories.

Please join me — us — if and when you can, and let us know what you think of what I am trying to express. 

Have a good one.

Jonathan’s post and Blog site:  https://strangecodex.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/tilting-at-blogging-windmills/comment-page-1/#comment-1614

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