Journals and Blogs

WitchWoman and I are having an on-going conversation about journals,and blogs. Both of us journal but each in our own privacy. Have for years. Having a pen in hand and scratching words onto a fresh sheet of paper is a sublime experience.

The nature of our conversation centers on the degree to which one puts his/her soul onto the page and for whom the writing is intended. WitchWoman contends that writing is private and, thus, kept close. A journal is a private document into which one pours all. It has an audience of one – the writer. Journals are helpful tools to work out difficult issues. They are the “whiteboard” of the mind on which you can scribble and doodle ideas, dissect and compound notions, explore options. The stuff that gets into a journal should not be taken as truth or as concluded fact. The journal is the place in which you try to discern the truth and the way to do that is to explore the possibilities. Even to use the journal as a record of events presents issues of bias, perception, and emphasis. Detailing a luncheon date, for instance, may seem innocuous until put into broader perspective. The journal is that safe place to sort out the details. It is safe because it is solely yours.

Blogs are completely different. A blog is the kid screaming at his mother to watch him dive in the pool, or ride his bicycle, or jump out of a tree. There is no pretense in blogging to maintain any privacy, and from some of the blogs I read, little effort at modesty. A blog is self-promotion even when it is created with the best of intentions. Welch Super Service is all about me. And I shamelessly throw it open on the absurd presumption that the world “needs” to know what Tom is thinking.

It may surprise some readers but I usually draft these posts then go back and edit them before putting them on the blog. I guarantee to you that I do not edit my journal entries. That begs the obvious question: are blogs less genuine than journals? Not necessarily. Both attempt to make sense of the world. Both can be completely honest or not, depending on the character of the person writing them. A blog is a wider conversation, an invitation to exchange with others. Admittedly, they are self-aggrandizing but they can also be congenial. I think of a blog in the same terms as the chit-chat at a cocktail or dinner party while a journal are those quiet moments you spend alone, hashing over events, thoughts, threats, and opportunities.

This is another example of what WitchWoman does to me. She makes me examine my motives. For that, I am grateful. Welch Super Service is an invitation to converse. It is as much me as a person can share without offending. It is about connecting.