Monday, August 8, 2011

Step 1

Renovating my writing practices so that I can grow means that I have to prune things, like some of the showiest bushes and trees, so that new growth can occur or so that I can see the street signs. These are the steps I've taken so far:
  • Set all blogs to be written once a week, including this one
  • Removed all bookmarks, history, and computer and mobile notification to Facebook
The second bullet point means that if someone sent anything to me on Facebook after midnight Pacific time Sunday night, I won't see it. Oh, now, Jo, you'll see it SOMETIME, right? Yes, semantics. I will see it sometime. You ask me for a timeline, though, you're out of luck. My brother follows a good practice--the last time he checked his Facebook was May of this year, and the last time he checked it before that was September...of 2009. I envy him, unnecessarily. I could do that. I'm just afraid of being forgotten.

But Facebook isn't the only way to connect, and if I'm forgotten by those who think it is, then maybe that's better. I'm not closing my account--it sits there wide open, a plasma-screened canvas for those who want to say hello. I received correspondence from someone in the list of friends once a week. Not a note from each of the 87, but one person a week. But with a list of only 87 while most others have a list of over 150, I imagine my priority ranking doesn't sit very high. A friend that I discussed this with over the weekend told me I have the wrong motivation for writing. I was offended--I wasn't writing for the wrong reasons, I was networking and marketing that writing for the wrong reasons. To her, they were one and the same...and on Saturday I thought maybe I shouldn't be a writer.

The biggest distinction in this whole mess is the difference between effect and recognition. I would have been happy to think I was having an effect, which, when you're a writer, looks like you are asking for recognition. I don't want applause--I just want to know I've touched the reader. And I'm not reaching very many people on Facebook or my blogs, so why not redistribute that writing to writing something that will reach someone?

Even if it's me?

Write on.

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