It was with much trepidation that I made my first blog post on June 1, 2009. I wasn't sure what to say or how to say it {even now, I'm stumbling at how to word this post just right — not too wordy, not too formal, not too casual, and how do I convey my meaning without rambling on for hours? Not surprisingly, this post is going in a different direction than I'd intended}. Over the next seven months, as I posted more and more frequently on our group's blog, I realized that I kind of liked blogging, and probably ought to get my own space to blog about my Twilight quilt blocks. And that is how it all started.
My first posts were all business. I had a year's worth of Twilight quilting to document. It was 20 posts before I even broke pace and mentioned something besides Twilight. I stopped for a breath to mention plans for a Harry Potter quilt. Then did a fairly self-indulgent post on how sucky my birthday is and went right back to posting about Twilight. Out of the 37 posts I did between January 9 and January 31, 2010, 27 of them were about my Twilight quilt. As time passed and my obsession with Twilight found a quieter place in my life, my posts about Twilight also found a quieter place on my blog. Still, I'm completely committed to finishing that tedious paper-piecing nightmare of a quilt {said with the greatest affection} and you will hear about it
.In the past year of blogging I've found a place where I can be myself. I loved this quote by Simon Dumenco, Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology. I love the ease and convenience with which I can catalog and illustrate my thoughts and achievements. And blogging allows me a place show off my achievements without being a complete show-off — because that is why all crafty bloggers blog — to show off their achievements in a socially accepted way. Somehow
, posting a picture of something you made and telling all about it is different than showing everybody you know the same thing. I know that when I browse blogs to see what other quilters have done, I'm not thinking, Oh my gosh. What such a show-off. It is exactly the opposite. I'm thinking, Wow! This person is really talented. I'm so glad I get a peek inside their life. I've made friends across the country, and even on the other side of the world, through blogging. I've found a place to be truly me.While I was organizing this post, I came across a quote about blogging which stung just a little bit. Some anonymous person said: bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives. First, I find it interesting that whoever this person is would hide behind the guise of anonymity to say something so spiteful. It shows great cowardice. The web is nifty that way, though. You can go around saying nasty things that you wouldn't say in ordinary society. But second, I have to disagree with whoever this person is. In the movie, Shall We Dance, Beverly Clark {played by Susan Sarandon} says, speaking about marriage, we need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean?
I think that is why so many people blog. Because we need witnesses to our lives. We need to know that the things we do matter, that we matter. The name of my blog, Such a Sew and Sew is a play on the term so-and-so. When you call someone a so-and-so, it means that you either don't know who they are or forgot their name {I realize the WWW is a big place and I don't make that big of a splash}, or you're using it in place of a epithet {I'm kind of a busy-body and I have a strong personality. Not everybody in the world is going to like me. I'm over it}. And more than anything, I like to sew. I sew nearly every day because it makes me happy. Blogging about it also makes me happy.
To the anonymous anti-blogger, I would say that the inconsequential minutiae of . . . day to day lives that so many blogs contain is not inconsequential to those who write it. Behind every blog is a person who does matter.
8 comments:
A really great post Elizabeth, and well said, I couldn't have said that better myself.
Loved this post Elizabeth.
Thank you for letting us be a witness to the minutiae of your life.
I've seen that quote about blogging before and thought "That person is a pratt and completely missed the point".
This is a great favourite!
love this post Elizabeth! totally agree with what you've said.
I enjoyed this post. You put it so well. I, for one, am very glad you blog!
I had heard that line about being a witness to someone else's life before (maybe I saw that movie too, although I don't remember it, per se). That struck me and has stuck with me. I think it's very profound.
Fabulous favourite and you're so right about people who make anonymous comments like that.
Have a great Sunday.
Well stick that in your pipe and smoke it 'anonymous' blogger. LOL
Besides, didn't that person post THAT online somewhere for a reason? I can only assume that it was meant for others to read, what does that say about them?
I don't think of blogging as bragging. I used to have a book called 'my quilt journal' that I would put pictures of my quilts and write a little about who they were for and how they came about. Well, I am a HORRIBLE writter and most of the time wouldn't even remember to take a picture of it. I think of my blog as my quilt journal so I can remember what I made. If other people want to look too, great, if not, that is ok too.
well, gee, here I thought that the anonymous blogger wrote this just to me:
" bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives."
You're right about the blogger hiding. What a JERK ! ! !
Hugs,
Gerry
A very insightful post Elizabeth! I for one enjoy your posts, your show and tell, your humor, learning about your everyday life. I like you and want to be your friend and the miles between us are many. This blog is one of the few ways for me to be your friend, to learn about you, to see your creations and tell you how awesome I think you are and how talented you are and how much I look up to you.
I feel lucky to count myself as one of your online friends, being there "from the beginning" of your blogging journey. I feel lucky that I even got to hang with you in person a few days, so long ago. I feel lucky that you share so much of yourself with us. Some people criticize us who hang out online....saying things like how can we possibly be friends with people thousands of miles away, people we could never even meet in person or who may not even be presenting their true selves. But I talk to my 'online' friends almost on a daily basis, whereas my 'real' friends my not call or write or visit for months at a time. My online friends might know more about me than those I met the "traditional" way. So who then are my 'real' friends?
The quote about 'witness to our lives'....as I grow older and struggle with it, and redefining myself as a wife and mother and feeling mortality coming closer....this quote really hits home. I've kidded around about how much I love to 'show and tell'. That's what it's really about. Finding a connection, a witness to my achievements. A witness to the fact that I existed and I did something with my life. Maybe not something on a grand scale, like cure a disease or save someone's life. But if I do something that makes me happy and share it with those I care about, then I made a connection.
Thanks for making a connection with me, my online "pen pal". :)
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