create when compelled
xIre wrote about how A blog is a snapshot:
The more I think about what to write, the more I realize that wasn't the intended goal of this blog.
I write when I want to, and when something comes up organically, I don't want to write just to write.
Same. Stimuli in my head or my surroundings compel me to create. Take me reading the above lines of her post, realizing that's how I operate, and proceeding to comment on the parallel. While there have been times where I have written just to write, I don't recall doing that for this effort.
Now, I realize, that perhaps that sentiment comes out because of the way that bearblog works.
No, I'm not focused on analytics, or the toasts or whatever, but, I know I have readers. I get a lot of personal engagement through emails, through commentary. That was one of my intended goals of this blog, to find like minded people to talk to,
I figure that publishing your writing on the Internet indicates wanting at least a remote semblance of feedback. That said, I don't know how much personal engagement through emails and commentary was an intended goal of mine starting out. See how I shipped unprompted thoughts for my first few months, then pivoted to being inspired to write by my peers here. That commentary eventually led to sharing contact methods, which themselves led to wonderful email exchanges I wish to see more of.
the other? To write down my true thoughts. Something that I have noticed though, is that, however small that audience may be, it drives me to act in ways I do not want to act.
That is to say, perhaps a blog should be an extension of something else, much greater.
A personal section of the internet, to a much larger overall.
A fun part about the Internet is how scattered your digital garden can be. Yes, you can designate different thoughts for different plots like you would with plants and soil. However, the abundance and distance between your online plots can dwarf what's possible on Earth. So many people dream of owning one or more homes for themselves and their family. How many more homes can you cultivate on the web?
What is it that I want to do here exactly?
What part of my thoughts can I show on this portion of my internet space?
I once again appreciate how "this portion of" adds much-needed nuance to "my internet space". Your online domain is a game you can populate with myriad settings, characters, and voices. May their differences add otherworldly lushness to what could otherwise be a dull, bland world. That perspective of online multiplicity reminded me of this stanza from section 51 of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself:
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Let your multitudes float off into the distance every which way. Embrace how maintaining various presences within cyberspace adds texture to your experience. View the world before you from as many different angles and perspectives as you can muster.
On what to show where, this proverb seems apt:
On the contrary, adopting an outlier role within a space can enrich not only that player, but also other players and the space around them all. That depends on how you present yourself, how resonant you are, and how much people reciprocate with you. You can earn "a lot of personal engagement" from filling gaps that others haven't or won't.
Your survival running that strategy could depend on how consistently you can remain under the local threshold. You know what they say about how Icarus flew too close to the sun. Even then, that can be framed as an opportunity. Just look at all the recent meta discourse as an example.
Ultimately, you strike a balance between similarities and differences from your surroundings. Conforming to local norms in some aspects, deviating in others. There's a time and place for every thought. That leads me to believe that you should show what keeps you afloat.