BlogHer - writer - Comments

Thanks Kelly

Wilma Ham — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:21:40 -0500

I love what Kelly has to say.

"Great writing can only be acheived by studied practice and a willingness to fuck it all up."

Mostly I have shied away from practice and a willingness to fuck it up.
However as there is no blogging school I had to jump in, practice my writing and I had to get used to making a visible fool of myself.
Hey, I am still here and learning and practicing and growing and it is doing me good as a person :)

And I love hearing that I am not alone.

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Good Writing Requires Reflection

conversemomma — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:03:34 -0500

I'm always amazed at the people who run from the critics, who only want those shiny, happy, comments. I think that anyone can be a blogger. Heck, anyone can be a writer. You are a writer just by putting your thoughts down and hitting publish. But, not everyone can be a "good" writer. Writing that really reaches out and speaks to others has to have a level of honesty that the blogging world does not always appreciate. You have to be willing to reflect. I like the discussion you are having here because you are bringing that issue of reflection to the forefront. I know I am a good writer. Writing my blog is helping me to be a great writer. Great writing is about giving witness to humanity, beautiful or bruised. Great writing does not rest on easy phrases or conventional ending. Great writing can only be acheived by studied practice and a willingness to fuck it all up. I think I have it in me to be a great writer. That does not diminish just because someone does not like what I have to say.

Kelly

http://www.ordinaryartblog.com

Blogging has hurt my writing

Nordette — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:35:21 -0500

I've decided I'm going to blog less and return to old school writing craft that involves more time alone, less clamoring for outside attention, and more contemplation and observation of the world around me and myself. An older writer advised me to do that a while back. I should have listened.

Had a lot more to say than that, but deleted it.

Great post, Rita.

Nordette: BlogHer CE. Blogs @ WSATA & UMBOP. @Twitter

Way before the days of blogs

Virginia DeBolt — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:22:37 -0500

I first developed an interest in the Internet because I saw it as a way to publish my own writing. I'd been writing magazine articles, horrible fiction, poetry, children's short stories. I seldom found a home for any of it. That was the reason I learned how to build a web site: to self-publish.

Things have come a long way since then, but I'm still typing away. For someone who loves words the way I do, I've never been very good at talking. Writing has always been the path for me.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer CE
Web Teacher
First 50 Words
@vdebolt

Words are Powerful

mochadad — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:05:17 -0500

I also starting blogging because of my love for writing. Words have power and can impact people's lives. I hope that my corner of the blogosphere can have such an impact.

Mocha Dad

www.mochadad.com

Bravo!

kikiwalter — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:36:11 -0500

Wow, thank you for such a wonderful post. I try to explain the very thing you say in your first couple paragraphs to others and consider myself not a blogger, but a writer--an essayist. I identify with so much of what you say here...thank you for sharing! K.

http://kikiwalter.blogspot.com

http://twoliablog.com/i-am-not-kidding

Fear of Readers

wraith — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:16:54 -0500

Despite the herculean efforts of Sr. Mary Nelson, my handwriting is atrocious. Seriously, compared to my chicken scrawl, the average physician's handwriting would be considered caligraphy. I became a ghostwriter, in large part, to avoid the embarrassment of a book signing. ;)

Rick

Wraith
Wraith@wraithSword.net

Words are powerful

Wilma Ham — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:19:44 -0500

I love it when you write that unwittingly your words hurt.
They do so in life too but on a blog it becomes more visible as people comment and it is recorded.
That makes blogging a great learning experience for me too. I feel connected :)

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Thankyou for sharing

kazari — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:04:46 -0500

This is beautifully written. I started a food blog because I didn't really know anyone else who liked to cook, and I found a community online.

Slowly I realised I wanted to write beyond the kitchen, so I started a more personal blog. it's been fun discovering my boundaries around that.

I write because I've always written. I share my writing because it is good to be heard, and good to join the conversation.

I think I have a recipe for that...

On the end of my rope

Feeling heard is very important

AmberS — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:56:28 -0500

I've undergone a big shift in the last 4 months or so. I've blogged for years - almost 6 years, actually. And I kept to myself. I didn't really 'get' blogging. I was afraid of my readers, and afraid of other bloggers. That I would face judgment from total strangers. I am maybe a touch socially anxious.

Anyway, since I'm maternity leave right now, I spend a lot of time alone with an infant. And so I decided to reach out. It's been enriching. And I've found that I also like knowing there is an audience (other than my mother), I like the interaction and the conversation. Even in real life, I hear from people who I would have hidden my blog from before, who are enthusiastic to discover this other side of me. I wonder why I hid for so long.

I love your mission statement. It's far more important than I realized, feeling heard. I like it.

~ Amber

www.strocel.com

Love your mission statement

Maria Niles — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:27:37 -0500

This is a beautiful post and a prime example why I enjoy reading your writing so much. Thank you for sharing.

BlogHer Contributing Editor
PopConsumer
Beyond Help

Oh, yes,

Virginia DeBolt — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:47:19 -0600

you are definitely a writer.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

Snap

Wilma Ham — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:53:39 -0600

I hated writing at school, so writing never came up as something I would do.

But I too am an observer and from my observing I am left with questions and my questions want to go somewhere and thus I write on a blog.
To explain what I have observed, to vent my questions and to draw people into my observations and with the hope that this will lead to us doing things differently.

I never saw that as writing, until it was pointed out to me that is what I do all day.
Now I observe and question "Am I a writer?"

I probably am and of course everybody does it better than me.
I do observe that in myself and I have plenty of questions about that as well :)

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Translating life

heartseverywhere — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:31:22 -0600

I agree about your translating perception; in fact my slogan on my blog is 'transcribing life's stories as it dictates them.'

I compose sentences on a regular basis. I also think that the reason 'crazy' thing happen to me is so that I can retell them.

We are writers because we can't not be.

www.heartseverywhere.com

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Thinking about writing

rebellious thinker — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:44:56 -0600

I love your reflection that you are a writer because you are a thinker. For me, I guess i know that I am a writer because it is always the thing that draws me. I am always composing phrases in my head and thinking about my life not only as the thing that is lived, but as the thing that can be translated and transferred via words to others.

Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com