a well-watered garden

this blogging thing . .

. . . is so much more fun and effective when you actually write!

raw material

I was reading Jerry's journal and enjoying an entry about writing - about the need to just write, forgetting perfectionism, or you'll never start.

I also watched a Reuter's video about blogging which said most bloggers give up and abandon their sites after about 3 months, when they realize it's...um...kinda hard.

Anyway, was just thinking...maybe all the good writing teachers ask you to keep a journal so that you can get the raw material.  You always have to start with something.

Like in pottery class.

A mound of indiscriminate clay is thrown onto the wheel and you watch it turn.

Will it land right?  is it center (there's a cool word for this that I forget - if you know it, tell me! :)

If it's wobbling to and fro all kerfuddled, you pick it up and throw again.

Here's me, throwin' it down!

Who am I writing for?

Good question.

Or should I say 'for whom am I writing'?  English majors out there?

Back when I was studying Communication in the States instead of teaching English (gasp! don't worry, I'm not teaching much grammar) in Ukraine I read things for class that talked a lot about audience.  When you communicate, knowing your audience is rather important.  Chaim Perelman writes something about it.  Kenneth Burke says something about 'identification', which is more than 'identifying with your audience,' but connecting, overcoming division. 

Yeah, I'm writing very much on the edge of what I remember or ever knew.

Anyway...

I received a comment that reminded me of the problem I've had since I started blogging.  Who is my audience?   Most of my readers, if not all, come to my page from my missionary newsletter list or from www.fmwm.org 's page linking to missionary blogs.  So there is a feeling that I should be posting reports, stories, photos from Ukraine. Sometimes I do!

But this whole endeavor has introduced me to the blog world, I've been reading more, and it makes me want to learn to write better.  To make it a real journal of sorts (which I guess is what blogs are kinda supposed to be).  Not that writing as a missionary and writing well are mutually exclusive.  But I've worried about it.  That to connect with my church family I have to write one way, but to be read by others from different backgrounds and persuasions--I'd have to write another way.

It's one of the reasons I continue to write a regular newsletter.  With the "Allmanack" I try to keep it more or less straightforward and give the news, the prayer requests, the overview.  I appreciate the way people read it, post it, and use it to stay in touch with the ministry here!

But I'm getting the itch to dig a little deeper with this blog.   I've not worked to cultivate the writing bug in the last few years, at least not beyond the monthly (or less frequent) newsletters. 

So anyway, there's my intention laid out.   Oh, what was I saying about audience?  I think I'm gonna shoot for just being myself and let that find its own audience.  I dunno. Maybe it'll work.  I'm still new to this.