The last two posts I put out, I really had to pause before I hit that “publish” button.
Of course, I always knew I was going to send them but even so, you do wonder sometimes if you should, and you ask yourself: why the hell am I doing this anyway?
Both of the posts cut really close to the bone.
In one, I exposed my failings as a parent too prone to getting angry with my kids, my daughter mainly, and, no more rationalisations, I had to stop doing it.
The other was about the bullying experience our son had endured in school.
The responses to both were so reassuring and kind, but they also got me pondering the obvious questions: who am I “writing” to, and why.
Why do I get so much out of the whole process, the writing and then the responding to the comments at the bottom of the page?
And with engaging with my favourite bloggers in exactly the same way?
As a kid I was a huge fan of the original Star Trek series. Maybe I should write a post about it, I loved it so much. Another time, maybe.
But why I thought of Star Trek is I remember when Jim, Spock, and the others would meet “superior” beings on other planets, they would often communicate with each other via telepathy … you know, thought transference.
I found the notion of this elevated communication thing fascinating.
Like putting out the best of what was in your brain out to others in the most efficient, and refined way possible. And getting it right back at you in the same way.
Like edited highlights.
No stumbling, stuttering, mumbling or sentences half-completed.
Like we do in real life.
And that’s how I feel about published writing, and personal blogs. Like mine.
I think of my blog posts as a form of elevated communication. The best of me beamed across to you, the reader, and bringing out the best in you.
And then reading the best of you, my fellow bloggers.
An elevated communication.
No stumbling, stuttering, or mumbling.
Edited highlights.
And if you do respond negatively, I can always ignore you — or get out my phaser and set it to “stun”.
Sorry non-Trekkies!
Most of you know nothing else about me, except what you read here.
You just get my distilled, edited highlights package beamed directly to you.
No stumbling, stuttering … you get the message!
I remember many years ago one of Ireland’s finest ever newspaper journalists, the late John Healy, talking about how often people who would read the brilliantly sculpted prose of his wonderfully acerbic political commentaries would be disappointed that he didn’t talk like that in real life.
A shy man publicly, he stumbled, and he stuttered, and he mumbled.
Like the rest of us.
His writing was him communicating at his most elevated level, putting out finely crafted pieces written, re-written, and edited down to the highlights. And meeting strict deadlines.
What you might call his writing persona. A persona, yes, but a persona created by himself. The best of himself, maybe. Or at least the clearest representation of what he aspired to be. Or communicate.
I am also thinking of that person often undervalued in movies: the screenwriter.
The wordsmith who has honed and polished his wonderful words into gems of pithy eloquence, every syllable and accentuation serving a purpose, and then some jumped up “ac-tore” shows up late, glances through those gems, walks his chewing-gum into the rehearsals floor, and whines: ”I can’t say this shit, let’s change these stoopid words …”
Tread softly for you tread on the sensitive writer’s dreams … as well as your Wrigley’s Doublemint.
I just love that whole business of being so excited when a phrase or idea pops into my head as I write, and seeing if it works.
If it does, great, it stays there for posterity, or at least a while; if it doesn’t I can work on it. Remove it. Or elevate it.
And then, reading and communicating with my favourite bloggers: what a joy!
I don’t know any of these people, nor do I really want to. For in my head I have very definite constructions of the personas of people like Clive, Kelly, Heather, Liberty, Tracey, Dr Sharon, John Adams, Mary, Thom, Colm O’C, Poppins, Quinn, Fiona, Evie, and the others.
Maybe these personas are partly truth and partly fiction, and where one begins and the other ends, nobody knows, maybe not even themselves.
And the same goes for myself.
I just love reading their stuff, and I treasure it when they respond to my own posts.
So that’s an answer of some kind to why I blog and why I will continue to boldly go …
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- If you enjoyed what you have just read, try another one! Try them all! Seriously, follow my blog and you won’t miss out again. Thanks for reading.
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EndaStories 
I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t always find verbal communication very easy. I’m shy, self conscious and have hearing problems. The written word, be it a blog post, or a twitter comment allows me the time to think about and craft my words in a way that presents the best side of me.
A great post xx
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Thanks Tracey. Glad you liked it
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I love the idea of blogging as “elevated communication!” I’m not even a Trekkie, but find this intriguing.
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I’m not either … just the original series!
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Very astute, Enda! Although I think we create a persona for ourselves in “real life” too. Very few of us put an “unedited” version of ourselves out there for public viewing. I guess it is easier to hide behind written words when your audience cannot see your face as you are “talking”. I, too, enjoy the whole process. when I first pictured blogging, I pictured a lonely process, just me and my laptop. I didn’t realize that the best part would be to get to “meet” other bloggers. Great post. It really has me thinking…
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Yes Laurie I agree completely about the public personas. Just the written persona maybe has the added dimension of editing and eloquence. Thanks for your observations and kibd words
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If only we could all live carefully edited lives and use elevated communication with each other as standard. It certainly would cut out a lot of the crap we have to endure. In the meantime we can only enjoy each other’s eloquently written blogs and fall through the floor with surprise if we ever get to meet! Okay, most bloggers I’ve met have been quite fabulous, we are a life species of our own in the blogiverse.
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Ha ha . We must be .. or from one of those planets visited by Jim, Spock, Bones and the rest!
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Sometimes I feel like a phony – because my polished and succinct posts are often the finished product of so much worry and conversations and mulled thoughts – that have finally come together in this final essay – but now I realize the truth – thanks to this amazing, polished, succinct post of yours! Thanks so much for writing this, Enda!
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And what’s wrong with craft? It’s just one of the enjoyable aspects of all this blogging business. Quite the opposite to phony, says I! Thanks for your great comment
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This is all so true! Being new to this world of blogging, I have pondered over why I would ever want to write about the things I do, or why people would want to read them? However I have found so far that there is a lot of acceptance in the blogging community. And it is nice to find that you are not alone with your thoughts somehow. #globalblogging
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Thanks, Jo … it is good to know we are not alone, isn’t it? My own experiences have almost always been so positive. Thanks for commenting
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How true! I love the idea of ‘meeting’ virtual friends via their blogs and blogging gives me a place to write my heart out without judgement. As English is not my mother tongue, I don’t speak as well as I write — you probably wouldn’t understand me if we were to speak in person! I speak Manglish (Malaysian English aka Mangled English!). Great post, Enda!
#GlobalBlogging
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Thank you Veronica … that’s another thing … my accent in real life is Irish, but online it doesn’t exist. I could be anything from hoity-toity Shakespearean to streetwise Brooklyn. Depending on what I am writing. Part of the fun! Thanks so much for your lovely comment
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I absolutely love this trek through your thought process around your writing. I think any blogger worth their salt has harboured some kind of doubt about why they do it, but asking ourselves questions like that can only be of benefit to us and our readers, as long as we get some answers! If we care about our blogging, that is evident to the reader and I, like you, want to present the best version of my writing that I can. That little counter in the WordPress post creator rarely finishes below 25 revisions – I may not be perfect but I’d like to be as close as possible, and I suspect you’re the same. Above all, I like a blog to show honesty, and we get that from you in spades. Always a joy to read, and this is no exception. And if that was me in the name checks, thank you!
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There’s only one Clive …. you know that! Well I only know one anyway. Keep on trekking!
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Thank you, you too! To boldly split infinitives whenever we can….until we edit 😉
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😉
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Heartening. As always. I was at a travel bloggers conference last year and was taken aback to see how focused bloggers were on numbers, likes, reads, clicks, stats. Perhaps travel blogging is a different beast as many make their living from it. But having read some of what was on offer, I wasn’t all that impressed. I like stories rather than a list of the top 10 sights in Termonfeckin. I want to hear the effect a place had on the writer not how much it costs to eat there. I want to think about the questions it brought up and/or answered. The rest has been done to death. I blog. Three different blogs. One started to share an account of my move to Hungary with friends around the world because I was so caught up in it all that I hadn’t time to write individual letters. This has evolved into a series of general reflections on life. The second is written for friends who because of various ailments and life circumstances don’t get to travel but still want to see the world. And the latest is a record for me of my fascination with cemeteries. The first has a handful of regular readers (thank you for being one of them). The second, too. The third seems like I’m talking to myself – which is fine. My stats wouldn’t have anyone pulling out their chequebook to sign me up for an affiliate marketing deal. But as for you, the comments make it all worthwhile. That, and the opportunity to play with words and experiment with style. It’s like an English exercise book that’s open for everyone to read. Great post, Enda. One I’ll mark to reread.
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Hi Mary. I admit once I see a Top 10 list, or a fancy, soulless post telling me the best way to do something, especially if I sign up to their bullshit boost your blog stats self-marketing thingie, I swipe on. I am amazed at your writing energy … such detailed posts, so personal, and so YOU. And to know that you do three of the blessed things! Now there is a person born to write, I think to myself. And so a blogger that I actually want to read. I so enjoy the writing, but what brings the whole thing alive is the response and the interaction. And that is connected with stats too. There’s the rub: if one writes and publishes that writing, even in a blog, one wants to be read. Hence I do like to see stats proving that people have taken the time to read my work, and when they like or comment, wow! So enjoyed your lovely reflections, like a blog in themselves!
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Totally with you on this, Edna, however, my husband is disappointed that in spite of me surviving a massive stroke, I haven’t lost the ability to speak! #dreamteam@_karendennis199@gmail nis
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Haha … I doubt that. I didn’t know about your stroke … sorry to hear that. I hope you are doing okay. Keep working on the thought transference!!!
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I’m a total trekkie – and completely agree. Makes me also think about the idea of elevated communication there often being associated with elevated intelligence. A flawed assumption no doubt. But many times I think our writing brings out the strongest feelings even if they don’t always make sense. #triumphanttales
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Yeah, I often don’t know what I am thinking until I write it down, and then edit a bit to try and make it more readable. Of course on Star Trek those thought transference lads were always super intelligent. I wasn’t thinking about that bit, just the commiunication part!
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It’s interesting to look at the different amounts people produce, and how much editing they say they do, and how finished it looks. It is awesome when people turn out hundreds of words of decent stuff every day, although it does make me wonder whether they have much else to do, and who reads it all. I only manage two or three posts a month, usually edited many times over several days before I hit publish.
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I don’t know … it’s whatever works for each individual. I post once a week, because I wanted to impose some kind of deadline to make me have to do it … even though I wanted to anyway, if you know what I mean! I find those who write often, at least half of it is commercial, affiiated stuff, which I have no interest in at all. So quality first, mate. I edit before I send because I enjoy the process of actually writing, and that involves editing too. I agree with your approach: write what you want to write, and release it when it’s good and ready!
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God forbid we learn to communicate telepathically. Most of my thoughts are not for broadcasting. They certainly need a filter of time and consideration, even though many end up being vocalised to eternalised in the form of a blog post. My most recent of which may be so decisive I’ve not braved sharing it on a Linky (yet)
Ps I loved your last two posts #misitup
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Thanks Berni. I wouldnt like to put my unfiltered thoughts out directly either!!! That’s why editing is so vital
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Very nice. I wouldn’t want my unfiltered thoughts to go out in public as it is I get in trouble for being to blunt and honest anyway.
I blog because it is a way to for to be creative and have time spent not thinking about stuff. I pretty much shut off that part of the brain. The funny thing is that I might share my stuff with the world. People close to me don’t know I blog, I guess because it is something that I do for no judgement-I don’t know. #TruimphantTales
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I love the way to have used Star Trek in this pust actually very clever. Blogging is definitely my medium of communication I’m not very good when it comes face to face and I ramble on and talk total rubbish mind you sometimes I wonder if I am writing total rubbish as well. A fantastic read Enda love your writing top notch mate #triumphanttales
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Very kind of you to say so Nige. I think your awards and nominations would indicate you must be doing something right! You are always suppotive of other bloggers which indicates great generosity of spirit. Live long and prosper!
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I like your take on this Enda. It is a very astute and interesting way to look at writing and blogging. I never really thought about it but it’s true. We do edit our words and share them carefully through writing while the real version of us can sometimes be completely different. Or maybe not completely but unedited for sure. i also love the original series! I don’t consider myself a trekkie but I have watched a few other Star Trek series besides the original. I’ll never know enough of the language though to be a true trekkie lol #GlobalBlogging
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Thanks for your kind sentiments. I think it’s only natural to edit before we hit publish. Its still our original thoughts, only polished up a bit.
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I love the idea of blogging as being a way of communicating at an elevated level. I know that I often find it easier to express myself through the written word than verbally – plus there is that advantage of being able to edit and polish! #ablogginggoodtime
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Oh yes it’s important to be able to edit first Louise! Thanks for reading and commenting
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Hello Enda,
I would like to admit that I’m not exactly a full-pledged Trekkie but I could be an honorary one if I would consider the number of Star Trek episodes and movies I’ve seen. My father’s to blame.
So I felt at home with your post. I love the idea that blogging is akin to elevated communication. It really is. We’re skilled enough to only filter through information that we want to share. And only those in a similar frequency as us would read and feel connected with our blogs.
It’s my first time on your blog. Glad to have discovered it!
Best,
Sigrid
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Thank you Sigrid. I see from your Twitter handle you are in Texas … a long way from outside Dublin city in Ireland where I am living! Thanks for joining me and commenting
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Hello Enda,
That is what’s so great about blogging! Your thoughts have reached me here in the South of the US. I’m glad to have reached here.
Best,
Sigrid
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It is fascinating how we only know each other by what we read, an edited version and yes it is nice that way. Ironically when I write I always speak as I would to someone next to me, yet that is only one part of me, and its funny when people get to really know me they are usually shocked that I am actually very, well let’s say weird. I write under a pseudonym I guess because it feels like I have more freedom to use my voice, something I have struggled with, but working on. I am glad you hit publish on the difficult posts, they usually turn out to be the posts that help us and others through the shit. Thank you so much for linking up with us for #ABloggingGoodTime
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Thank you Mackenzie. In reality I am very careful about what I share, and how I share it. Everything I write is honest, but I have to be supersensitive and careful when there are others involved and mentioned. And rightly so. It does mean I can’t share everything! But I would imagine we are all the same as regards that.
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Oh gosh, very kind of you to mention me by name Enda but I dread to think what kind of persona you think I have! I went to a blogging conference a few years back and ws told I was completely different to how people expected me to be (I think because I had a few beers and they expected me to be very navel gazey and dry!). ANyway, keep presenting the best of you in writing Enda. And if someone responds negatively, smother them with love and kindness. If they reject you after that, it’s their problem, not yours 9and who wants 100% positive response anyway? That would be dull). headed on over from #blogcrush
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Good man John. The Oscar Wilde thing: There’s only one thing worse than being talked about … hah, a recipe for Katie Hopkins obnoxiousness. To be fair (as the best footballers say), I have received little but kindness in reaction to my blogging, and some great correspondences, but If I did get the trolling stuff, I wouldn’t bother responding. I have gotten involved in the odd Twitter spat, and have learned it is pointless to try and convince someone who is determined to diss your take on things. F*** them, I reckon!
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Love love love love love this! I gobble up your words without fail and look forward to each new addition. The highlights reel is awesome, we can craft the best of ourselves without all the humdrum. I love the back and forth of reading and commenting, then having my stuff read and commented on. It is a very special community of people no matter how far apart we are in location. #GlobalBlogging
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There is no one more central to our particular online blogging community than yourself Heather … for your fab writing, humour and unflagging hosting of linkys and supporting of other bloggers. And we can’t forget your superintelligent, effortlessly suave sidekick The Hub .. hehe, I mean Lola!!😀
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Aw, thank you so much!
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You have certainly struck a chord with this post Enda. I have lost count of the number of times I have asked myself why on earth I am blogging. The bog standard answer churned out by many is I love writing and yes I fall in that camp too but for me it is a love of words and not just any old words, clever, insightful, passionate, thought provoking words that create a true response. I aspire to write them but more importantly I love reading and listening to them and therein lies the key difference. It’s not about stats, collaborations or earning lots of money, its a shared passion. I love the engagement of blogging with like minded people and the strong sense of community with a bunch of strangers connected only by words is bizarrely intoxicating! Great post.
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Thanks so much Jo. I agree, it is intoxicating to be joined by just our words and ideas. I can’t begin to understand the whole business of collaboration and sponsored posts. If someone, especially a so-called social influencer, is pushing something,no matter how much they claim to believe in the product, or will only work on products they like, I simply don’t believe them. The slippery slope has been stepped on. I skip all such posts, and feel they just clog up my feed and sometimes prevent me catching genuine good stuff.
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I think when you connect with a fellow blogger, reading their work is like a window into the soul, you can read it and feel so much more connected to it than someone else’s work that you don’t know. I find the more heartfelt, natural posts are the ones I enjoy reading the most as it seems so honest. Thank you for sharing this with us at #TriumphantTales. I hope to see you back next week.
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Thanks Lianne. They are the only posts I read … I suppose it is a matter of taste … the commercial posting thing is a whole other pursuit, which I neither follow nor understand the attraction of. I can understand someone talking abut a skincare product they like in a natural way, but once they do so on a commercial basis, it’s a whole other thing. I would not buy any product based on an advertorial article.
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I’ve had these thoughts too, on how I prefer to communicate in writing. To have the time to think twice, and the chance to express a thought without being instantly judged by someone else. My thought goes onto the paper (or screen), and I can go back and change it before exposing it to anyone else. I also tend to prefer other peoples thoughts in writing, generally, as a lot of people talk too much, whereas in writing you more often get the essence of their thoughts. ”Elevated”, as you say. #MixItUp
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I have been known to change the wording even after I publish!! Interesting idea that, that we put down the “essence”of our thoughts on paper. I like that. Thanks for your thoughts.
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Popping back Thank you for linking to #Thatfridaylinky please come back next week
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Will do. Thanks Nige
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Oh gosh yes. It’s a bit of both really isn’t it. The writing persona which we hone and refine to the most clean and clearest of communications. Whilst, at the same time trying to embed ourselves, our personality, into that crystal exchange of words. Without losing clarity. But somehow giving more than what you see on the surface. Fascinating. Your posts definitely bring out my wordsmith passions 🙂 Thanks for joining us for the #dreamteam – I always look forward to reading your posts.
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Hi Annette, thank you so much for your kind words … we are all wordsmiths here! – sure that’s a great part of the fun and the attraction for me. We bloggers bring out the best in each other!
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#thesatsesh I think its an important question to ask, I hope to make the world a better place. I use the work I write with my pupils and I like the vocab you used – distilled. I think there is something huge in editing. Having blogged for a while now I’ve learnt two things – i can’t imagine not doing it and when I read back on old posts I rarely remember writing them. Its a little like another part of me writes. However, that said I can also ‘hear’ my voice in the words on the screen.
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It’s great being able to look over your argumments, critique them and tidy them up before you let them be seen. It’s really satisfying about blogging. Also like a bit of Start Trek myself! #BlogCrush
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No harm in a bit of editing Dave! I actually work in sub-editing in a newspaper, so I know the value of checking and correcting before you publish, Thanks for your comment
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This is a fascinating way of looking at blogging and I love the idea that I’m engaging in elevated communication! A few years ago, I wrote a post about whether we blog as our true selves. I had no idea where I was going with it when I sat down at the computer (I rarely do, to be honest) but I eventually concluded that I blogged as an edited version of myself. I don’t know whether that also makes the side of me that I publish a persona, but ‘blog Tom’ is definitely more confident and less socially awkward than I am in person.
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It’s still you Tom!! Editing is good! A bit of polish is all we are doing. Polishing up our thoughts,. Still our thoughts, only refined a bit, Thanks for taking the trouble to comment.
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Ah this is brilliant and you know I’m a bit od a fan girl at the best of times !! I’ve only ever met handful of folk from the blogging community for real and I was just a stuttery inarticulate idiot! Even though I say I write as I speak I value highly being able to go back , edit , improve . You just can’t do that with a conversation!!! #ablogginggoodtime
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Very true!!! But there’s a lot to be said for spontaneity too
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What a fabulous take on blogging. I nodded all the way through and felt inspired by your words to be the absolute best blogger that I can be, taking time to really craft what I want to say. But yes, in real life, I’m a stumbler! I think maybe lots of bloggers are – that’s why we relish the opportunity to say what we think – to really plan it all and write it exactly how we wish we could say it in “real life” #blogcrush
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Thanks Lucy. Very kind of you to feed my ego! Yes it Is so great to be able to put it together the way we like
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… and then hit that magic publish button!
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