(Disclaimer: I have just been informed by a peer reviewer that the first two paragraphs of this blog are very general and that the “hook” comes in paragraph three. If you are looking for hooks, start with paragraph three. If you are looking to follow the sometimes random, stream of consciousness wanderings of my mind, start with paragraph one. Disclaimer: done.)
Every blogger has reasons for writing what they do. Some blog about a particular issue or cause. Some about a hobby or a passion. Some blog to follow a particular field and (as an example) many librarians like me are writing about issues related to libraries, technology or whatever aspects of the information profession are of interest.
Some write to be read and some don’t. I have maintained a blog similar to a private diary for some time and while I previously kept the privacy settings on that blog set to public (i.e. anyone can view) I recently changed this, realizing that the things I wrote in that blog were really intended to be read only by myself and a select few. I wasn’t writing anything there that was particularly off the wall but still…somehow making it private felt like the right thing to do.
Some do write to be read by others, though, and again, their reasons are diverse and sometimes complex. There are bloggers who love an audience or the process of sharing thoughts with their friends and the rest of us in cyberspace. Others use the process of writing as a personal way to communicate, both with themselves and with others. For some, their blog is the only place where they truly feel safe; able to talk about who and what they are in privacy and where there is no one to judge. I have one friend who recently told me that she blogs “feedback” to herself because, she says, it is the only way that she can process feelings and analyze thoughts and actions objectively.
So what does this have to do with the Voyaging Librarian?
A little less than a year ago, I started this blog with the intent to chronicle a three month library internship in Austria. I wrote a couple of entries (as can be seen) but it never got off the ground. There were a lot of reasons for this, but the one that that I come back to the most is: fear. What if what I wrote was inaccurate or inappropriate? What if I said something about myself or someone else that I shouldn’t? If I put myself out there and wrote about desserts made with Erdbieren instead of Erdbeeren would everyone laugh at me and think I was an idiot?
The whole process of over-analyzing and perfectionizing a blog that I wasn’t even writing was so exhausting that it’s no wonder that every time I sat down to write I felt tired and reluctant. Plus, the timing often interfered with a fun outing to drink with friends at the local biergarten or one of my nightly Battlestar Galactica marathons with two awesome people who (if they are reading this) know who they are!
Then, later, there was a fear that I would not remember events accurately. Which, naturally, was not a situation that was likely to improve much as time ticked on. In fact, I must be suffering some involuntary amnesia because there are parts of that summer – weeks now! – that I can’t even remember.
Awhile back someone told me that they were worried I had disappointed myself by not finishing this blog. And I was disappointed, although perhaps not in the same way that this individual envisioned. I was not disappointed because of guilt. I did not break a promise to myself or let myself down. I was disappointed because I love to write. To play with words, to tell stories. To see events come to life through words and pictures. (And, as can be seen in the case of my flight to Europe, very bad pictures!)
And I didn’t write. For almost the entire summer. And for a long time afterward.
So, now I am back and with the goal of finishing this blog. I may not write every day or even every week. Maybe not even for months at times. But I will do it on my own terms. And in my own way.
I have no idea what the future will hold, but I want to finish this story as best I can. Even though there are some things I cannot write about or simply don’t remember. In the latter case, if I have to come up with bizarre and highly inaccurate tales to fill in the missing gaps, I will.
Or maybe I will just write about libraries. Or Julie Andrews. Whatever seems to click for me in the moment.
So now it begins - again.
Sincerely,
The Voyaging Librarian
