The Art of Blogging

Posted by Guest | November 8, 2008 | 29 Comments

This lovely post comes from Leslie of Heaven’s Overlook. She is a part-time professor at Westminster College in Salt Lake City where she lives with her husband and three girls. She’s new to the world of blogging and is interested in exploring blog writing as a genre. She has a Master’s Degree in English (Creative Writing and Folklore) from BYU and has also had the opportunity of speaking at BYU Women’s Conference. Wecome Leslie!

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author of Gift From the Sea, walked away from her life and stripped herself from everything she was–mother, wife, writer, and community member— to find herself at water’s edge. That was the sixties. Women today have no need to make pilgrimages to the sea for self-reflection, although there is certainly something healing about the salt water and ocean air . Instead, we blog. We simply click, type, and publish, and a community is holding out their hands ready to embrace us. Living proof, Segullah blog, and the blogs of Stephanie Nielson and her sister, Courtney.

Less than two months ago, I re-entered the world of blogging with a prayerful heart seeking answers. I considered the possibility of starting a blog a year ago, but the thought quickly dissipated, and I continued to live my overcrowded-life-of-words as a professor of writing and literature.

Presently, there is a part of me that is researching and exploring this whole concept of the Blog world, and more importantly, blog writing as a genre. How does it feed the human soul and mind? More specifically, how does it feed a mother’s soul and mind? What does the virtual world offer us that the physical world can not?

An answer to my prayers came last Sunday, when a gentleman, President Gordon B. Hinckley’s grandson, gave the most beautiful talk in church where he shared the advice that his BYU professor gave him. It was this: beware of screens, which would include the television, the computer, video games, and cell phones. My first thought was that in the blog world, the computer screen frames creativity, personal reflection, remembrances, and also bridges lives together through story and words. And still another question I have- In the art of blogging, when given the choice, do our words and pictures frame our true reality, or rather, how we want others to see us? Either way, it is a choice that we have as writers and creators as we piece together a sort of mosaic for the world to see.

When talking about personal essays and writing, I often ask the students in my writing classes, How will you make your story matter to your audience so that they will engage in your words? D, a student in one of my composition classes, just wrote a personal essay about leaving her everyday life as she hitchhiked with no direction, map, or destination in mind. Never in a million years would I lift my thumb and walk away from this life that I am slowly evolving into, but I was fascinated that D actually stripped herself from everything she was, to find out something new about herself and embrace the unknown possibilities. Her introspection was authentic and real, which is something that I long for in the blog genre. She was aware of her audience, which is often times a mystery to me in the virtual world. Even though D’s piece was very personal, it became universal to the class, and also to me, a woman twice D’s age.

It’s an interesting notion that going away often times leads us back home. Travel logs are only travel logs, pictures are simply pictures, but in the blog world, self reflection and introspection are the golden thread holding everything together until we post or read those next words. Is a blog a place to thread together day-to-day living? Or, does a blog provide a lens to make the small moments into something infinitely large where we live more present? In author Terry Tempest Williams’ words, “When we are fully present we not only live well, we live well for others.” Whatever the metaphor—mosaic or threads to tapestry–what an amazing gift it is to be able to piece our days together one by one.

The questions I ask of blog-writing continue to grow. The good news is that I am slowly living into the answers one by one. This I know–living an authentic and personal life is physical, especially as women raising children and living in changing bodies. We write and talk of family, believing, living, surviving, and mothering. Have you discovered something about yourself through this blogging world? In this urge to create, as a mother and as a writer, last week in one of my posts I discovered that as I carried and housed our three daughters for twenty-seven months of my life, they are now creating and shaping me, the mother. My thoughts now have words that give them a sort of shimmer around my everyday life and tightly-crafted days. I have discovered that blogging is an act of remembrance, recording, and has the ability to transport my soul without even having to hitchhike or wander to the edge of the sea.

Category: Daily Special

Comments

29 Responses to “The Art of Blogging”

Jane
November 8th, 2008 @ 9:30 am

I was thinking yesterday that mommy/personal blogging is similar to homemaking/motherhood in its common, everyday frustrations. Both are consumed with the minutae of life, which can be mind-numbing or soul-magnifying, depending on how you’re able to look at it.

Blogging, in its slow curve (unless you’re Dooce), small rewards, building of lives, communities, interactions, mirrors the slow curve of raising children who are one day sklonklish and irritating and another day mesmerizing in their discoveries.

I graduated from BYU in English in 99, but I never considered creative writing a talent or desire of mine. I knew I was good at writing angry, convincing letters to utility companies and the IRS, but didn’t see myself as a creator of stories.

Now that I’m a creator of homes and kids and lives, blogging is maybe just a first step in creating (seeing myself as a possible creator of) something more finished and self-contained.
Dalene
November 8th, 2008 @ 9:41 am

Wonderful post. Thank you. I appreciate your perspective as I have found myself so torn over blogging–wanting to pull the plug and then committing to post every day during the month of November.

I started blogging as a way to express myself and to connect with friends. What I didn’t expect was the way I would make new friends who have become a very real part of my life.

And while I find it frustrating at times (why are some silly blogs so popular and how can so many wonderful, well-written posts throughout the blogosphere go almost unnoticed?), I also have a great appreciation for the way blogging can bring people together.

You gave some wonderful examples, which have touched my heart as well. But here are a couple that are personal to me:

My oldest son got to know and understand me better through reading my blog. No one else in my immediate family has been interested, but what happened between us as he began to read my blog means the world to me.

In my extended family I have watched bridges be built between generations and even between family members who have felt somewhat ostracized.

A man who my father knew reached out to my family upon learning of my father’s death (albeit 20 years later) through a post I wrote about my dad. (He lives in Brazil and could only have found it through Google.)

And yes, I have made discoveries about myself as I have noted weaknesses (sometimes I speak without thinking) and learned to temper them (I can speak my mind using different words and still be careful of the feelings of others).

I’ve also loved finding common ground with people of other beliefs, experiences and points of view. I guess in this respect I love blogging the same way I love good fiction–it can inspire understanding and empathy.
Leslie
November 8th, 2008 @ 9:46 am

As an artist, I love creating. Blogging is variation of the same creative urge. To capture my life along the way. To freeze my consciousness, moments, images, and words. I also blog for voice. To give public voice to my life and how I spend my days. To show the fulfillment I find in my life. To give motherhood a deserved good name in all it’s complexity and lights and darks of growth. I talk about what matters to me, I find humor and meaning in everyday… oh and to occasionally tell people how to make fancy cupcakes. (My friend catherine is doing some fun research in this area- I’ll link you up!)
Jennie
November 8th, 2008 @ 10:09 am

I started blogging as a way to record who I am. So that my grandchildren (maybe great-grands too?) can see who I am. When they see my name on the family tree, they’ll be able to view me and my life. Keeping that in mind, I try to be very honest on my blog. Not in a mean way, I just want it to be a real reflection of what I think and do. I’m not afraid to talk about what I’m bad at (housekeeping. With pictures!), or what I’m good at (although sometimes it feels braggy. But it’s the truth–I make fantastic biscuits!)

The audience facet makes me actually keep it going. I know that people will be notice if I don’t post and that keeps me motivated. And positive feedback is definitely validating.

I’ve met some great people blogging and that has meant a lot too.
b.
November 8th, 2008 @ 10:14 am

This is a great post, I appreciate the exploration of the blogging art.
My thoughts are similar to those already expressed. I started as a way to get my thoughts out of my head-with the hope that I could make better sense and therefore better choices in my life. I believe I don’t express myself well verbally. I think I express myself better in writing. I decided at the beginning I would be open and real in sharing my thoughts. I needed to “say” the good and the bad. I had no idea anyone would be interested in what I had to “say”. What happened in the process is that I found out I wasn’t as weird as I thought I was. Sharing some of my story actually helped some people worldwide! That something I wrote was meaningful to someone else is truly amazing to me! So, for me? I don’t know if it’s an art…but definitely therapeutic and rewarding.
Shelah
November 8th, 2008 @ 10:15 am

I love this post, Leslie. I’ve been blogging for about three years. When I first started my personal blog, I consciously wanted it to be more than a “mommy blog.” I was a mommy for so many hours every day, that the blog was a way to escape from obsessing over my kids. That’s not to say that I never posted pictures of my kids’ in their Halloween costumes or stressed out over their sleeping/pooping/eating habits. In the last year, I started blogging at two group blogs (here and Feminist Mormon Housewives) and in some ways I feel that my personal blog has suffered. I try to be smart and thoughtful when I write for the group blogs, and it seems that all that’s left over for my own blog most days is the stuff the grandmas want– pictures of my kids and anecdotes about their antics. That’s one reason why I’m so glad for NaBloPoMo this month– it’s forced me to turn back to my personal blog and try to breathe some new life into it.
Adri
November 8th, 2008 @ 12:30 pm

Thanks for this post. I love your question, “does a blog provide a lens to make the small moments into something infinitely large where we live more present?” I would say, yes. Before blogging, I would often journal the small epiphanies of my life, stashing them away to re-read and rediscover as time passed. Now, I put those small moments on my blog (unless they are too personal…I still have a journal), and enjoy reflecting on how the small moments add up to the whole of my life. Of course, other fringe benefits of blogging are real-world connections. I’ve really enjoyed the old friendships that have revived through blogging, and the lessons I learn each time I read the posts of my mommy friends ‘in the trenches.’
Kathy
November 8th, 2008 @ 12:40 pm

Wow — and all this time I thought blogging was just another form of creative avoidance — a way to get out of doing the dishes or laundry.

What ever the reason, it helps keep me sane.
Heather O.
November 8th, 2008 @ 1:36 pm

Creative avoidance, sanity measures, whatever it takes. I love that some days I can just phone it in, so to speak, and other days I can really work hard to create something pretty good. At least I THINK it’s pretty good–maybe others would disagree. Come to think of it, they have

My biggest problem is making sure that blogging doesn’t consume my life in a bad way (too late?), and there are times when it often feels like a chore. But I’m sure I would be writing anyway to keep my sanity–I used my journal for that before the blog was born. The difference is now, the journal occasionally comments back.
MissMel
November 8th, 2008 @ 1:41 pm

I feel like I create a little piece of art that reflects our family’s life when I blog. It is fun to pull out the pieces that are most important to me and send them off to family and friends.
Andrea R.
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:08 pm

I was introduced to the blogging world a little over a year and a half ago, and it’s been a great outlet for me. Many times I have felt lonely in my personal opinions about the Church or my political ideas — I’ve felt like a bad person or a bad Mormon for thinking the way that I do about some things. Entering the blogging world has shown me that I’m not the only person that feels the way that I do about some things, and it has helped me do develop more positive ways of dealing with my differing opinions other than feeling like I’m “bad.”

I’ve also felt lonely being a SAHM with little kids — even though I have a network of friends in my ward (which is a miracle, I know), I have found a network of women on the internet that I feel close to through blogging. I haven’t met any of them in the flesh, but I feel such a personal connection with them, because we have shared our personal struggles with each other.

I have also really enjoyed the creative outlet of writing and editing posts — it is a muscle that I haven’t had a chance to flex for a very long time. I really enjoy the writing process, and often my writing has been a therapeutic outlet for the struggles that I face in my life.

I think blogging can be a way for many people from many different places to find a commonality and a personal connection to other people. I’m thinking specifically of Nie Nie’s tragedy — what an amazing outpouring of love and support to Nie, cjane, and their families, mainly through the connection of blogging. I feel such love and empathy for those families, even though we’ve never met and live in opposite sides of the country.

I too have found myself avoiding housework and other annoyances to spend time on the internet blogging with my Segullah sisters, but in so many ways, it has helped me through the rough spots.
Michelle
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:29 pm

I am a visual learner, plain and simple, and blogging teaches me gratitude. With each photo, with each post (mindless or heartfelt), and with each link to another friend or family member’s blog, gratitude for the very mosaics that make my life my own are burned into my heart, and backed-up in my mind, always there when I need a refresher course. The pieces of my patchwork-mother, wife, friend, sister-are interwoven beautifully between links, posts, music playlists, and followers. In the four short months since I clicked on my first orange publish button, I’ve learned the depth of gratitude for the pieces of my life is really just as simple as opening my eyes in the present.
Leslie R
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:43 pm

Thank you for all of your wonderful words. I love the comparison between blogging and mothering, Jane. It’s nice to explore how we have felt a little “split at the root” when it comes to how we spend our time and given capacities.

Along with the aspect of how words and blogging have the ability to keep us sane, the respect that is present in the Segullah forum is remarkable. It’s like the quote, “You’re Name is Safe in my Home.” The women here create a safety of sorts, as we witnessed a few days ago when we read and wrote about love and marriage. And the fact that writing is the medium is even more delightful.

Dalene, thank you for the words about your son following your blog. Too charming. So grateful for your honest reflections, Andrea. I am a big believer that women today read and write to gain perspective on their own lives, and also to gain a larger lens of empathy.
So grateful.
m&m
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:50 pm

I feel blogging has helped me understand myself, record thoughts and feelings that are important to me (my blog feels a bit like my small plates, and I print out posts and keep them in a book), understand others (particularly those who differ from me), and find some amazing, amazing (AMAZING!) friends I never would have met otherwise.

It also can sometimes be unhealthy for me as I will at times escape from my reality too much with the screen.

So I have a sort of love/hate relationship with it, and am still trying to find that balance. As long as I blog, I probably always will be trying to find that balance. But net-net, I am grateful for this medium.
Michelle L.
November 8th, 2008 @ 3:25 pm

Blogging is such a fascinating phenomenom. Like most mommy bloggers I started mine as a journal of sorts and it has now progressed into this lovely place where I connect with many of my favorite people. Like Dalene’s experience, it has opened communication between me and my teenage sons. They are my biggest fans and force me to write when I feel positively sure that everyone else in my blogging world is sick of me.

I started my blog when we were going through some very rough family and financial times. But my blog helped me see all the good in my life. In many ways it pulled me out of depression and has now opened doors that I’d never imagined (like Segullah!).

For me, the most sublime side effect of blogging is the people I meet. I now have blogging friends all over the country. People that I was MEANT to know. Like many others, I have also reunited with old friends and disconnected family members. My new visiting teacher confessed that she had been stalking my blog for ages and we were able to quickly cut past the small talk and get into the good stuff.

And Leslie, I read to the end of your post before I realized I KNOW you. Our paths have crossed many times in the past 17 years. But now, they’ve connected. I’ll be reading your blog from now on and next time we meet at the pool or the grocery store or a race we can bypass the small talk and become the friends we were always meant to be.
FoxyJ
November 8th, 2008 @ 3:54 pm

Ditto to everyone else. I started blogging about three years ago because a few of our friends at BYU were doing it too. They are all into creative writing, so I am envious of their talent. I’ve never thought of myself as a good writer, creative or otherwise, and blogging has been a good outlet and a chance to express myself. My personal blog is mostly about me, my thoughts, my opinions, books I read, etc. We started a blog about our kids two years ago that is just pictures and comments, so I often direct people to that one since it has a more public purpose.

I love all the friends I’ve made online, and the chance I’ve had to get to know friends better through their blog. I have a friend who is very different from me in every way, but I love her blog and feel like it has helped me understand her and see her in a new light. Blogging has helped me process my feelings about issues and has actually encouraged me to start a private journal again. Some thoughts are better kept to myself, but I don’t feel ashamed of sharing what I’ve shared with people. Like a lot of people who’ve posted here, I do admit to struggling with balance. There’s something addicting about all the information available out there on the internet!
wendy
November 8th, 2008 @ 6:00 pm

Can I add another ditto?

Leslie, I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on blogging. Blogging really does feed my soul and mind–both writing my own and reading what others have written.

I have loved participating in Segullah’s blog, reading other perspectives, considering other viewpoints, finding I am not so alone in my thoughts, etc. This and my own blog have been wonderful ways to feel more connected to other women.
jendoop
November 8th, 2008 @ 9:01 pm

“a blog provide a lens to make the small moments into something infinitely large where we live more present.” I have wonderfully insightful and intelligent thoughts (so I think) throughout my day as I do laundry, change diapers and shop for groceries. Before blogging they would occassionally find the light of day- If I remembered to discuss them with DH or in a once a month bookgroup. But most days they would float away left small and compressed, unexplored and unshared.

Daily I communicate to the world that I see beauty, I think, I feel, I’m grateful, that life is good for all of us. I want to share my hopeful attitude about what this life is about and where it is headed.

Connecting with family is something I have enjoyed as well. We’re far from all of our family, but those who take the time to read my blog know a truer me and in return I am able to more fully support and love them. Sometimes I hope that I even share the gospel with those of my family who do not go to church.

My high school art teacher told me if I wanted to be an artist I should sketch everyday, take a sketchbook everywhere I went. Well I guess I’ve traded in the sketchbook for a keyboard. Writing daily has definately honed my skills, I’m currently getting an “A” in a writing class!

Andrea, I’m with you, being a lonely SAHM. The blogging world has allowed me sisterhood in an physical area sparse in sisters. Thank you Segullah!
Emily M.
November 8th, 2008 @ 10:27 pm

Leslie, I loved the way you elevate blogging to an art form in your post. There really is an art to it–it is its own genre.

And really, it’s one I feel pretty bumbling in. I blog here occasionally, which has been fun, but I always feel like I’m just tossing stuff into the ether and hoping it lands somewhere. Then I also have my own little blog that I do not pay enough attention to. And there’s the key, when I say “enough:” my personal blog has become a source of guilt for me, instead of joy, since I have not taken the time with it that I could have.

But I have to say I very much appreciate those who take pains with their blogs, to make them places for me to meet new people and learn new things. (For example, everyone should check out the high-quality writing on Leslie’s blog, linked above. Very nice.) I feel like I understand the women around me better because of blogging, and I am grateful for that.

Beautiful post.
mormonhermitmom
November 9th, 2008 @ 12:29 am

I could echo many of the feelings posted here. I think one additional reason I have for blogging is how hard it has been for me to connect with the women in my ward. It’s no one’s fault. It’s a combination of 1)always being in the nursery, 2)never having time to attend Relief Society events, and 3) difficulty actually visiting teaching. I’m stuck at home a lot. Since starting a blog, I’m probably on the computer a little more than is healthy, but at least I get a good laugh, or a good cry, or some other little pick me up that helps me get through the rest of the day. So in that sense, yes, blogging is a lens – one that allows me to see the world outside of my apartment.
Lisa Garfield
November 9th, 2008 @ 2:30 am

OK, I’m the one who doesn’t blog. Life seems too full already. But I watch my young-mommy daughter develop true friendships through blogging. I see how the grown cousins connect. Occasionally, I read a really interesting blogging thread and don’t feel so lonely.
I’m the one who sticks out her thumb, searching for adventure. I’m the one that’s soon to head out for a 9-month trip around the world, dragging my half-reluctant family with me. I’m also the one with the new blog: http://www.gogarfields.blogspot.com. I’ve even set up a family blogging schedule, so everyone gets a turn each week to let the world know what we’re up to in the world. I’m going to try, because I see the benefits. As a lifelong journaler, I know the value in the writing. I need to learn the value in the sharing. (I could use some encouragement.)
wonder woman
November 9th, 2008 @ 11:05 am

When Elder Uchtdorf gave his talk in the General RS meeting, “Create and be compassionate,” I felt my blogging habit validated. Blogging for me started out as a place to post picture of my kids for grandparents thousands of miles away, but has quickly morphed into my creative outlet. I’ve always loved to write and used to be an avid journal, but when I got married and my life got “boring,” I no longer had drama to record!

Now I share the fun things my kids do, the humor I find in motherhood, and the struggles of my daily life. I am able to put my feelings into words, and have other women identify with them. I’ve made sincere, close friends.

I continually struggle with finding the balance in my life, particularly when it comes to things I do for myself (blogging and reading, mostly.) I’m always checking my priorities. My family and responsibilities as a mother come first, but blogging has become my way to rejuvenate. Between the creating of posts and the strengthening of friendships, I often come away from blogging replenished, ready to be a better mother and wife.
Leslie R
November 9th, 2008 @ 12:19 pm

Thank you for ALL of your comments. In the words of Emily Dickinson “I felt it shelter to speak with you.”

There are a myriad of personal and universal thoughts threading down the page, and bead by bead, comment by comment, the reasons we blog feel healthy and breed a sort of wellness. I do think the Segullah forum gives a safe frame for women to really share their hearts. Perhaps at one point or another, we have all felt lonely during the three-hour block, or in our own communities, and why this forum creates a sense of well-being is because believing is the bedrock.

My life has changed in the last month or so because of blogging. We have a new Saturday night ritual—Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip bread. Soul food at its best. I found the recipe on a neighbor’s blog.
Because of the post on love and marriage earlier this week, I have greater empathy and understanding for other women and their marriages. I have also been living with a new
Because of blog writing, I now harvest the small moments and don’t take them for granted. And like many of you, the words are a way to hold still so that I don’t forget who I used to be, and who I am today. Rather than simply surviving, I am now living.

To read how other women live their days, and particularly how they live the gospel, waters down my soul. So I thank you for your words and truths. I am so grateful.
Leslie R
November 9th, 2008 @ 12:33 pm

and the end of my sentence is this…
….I have also been living with a new awareness of how important it is to adore my husband after almost nineteen years of marriage. Your comments and words gave new light to my eyes, so as to see things differently.
(I am not sure what happened to the end of the sentence in the original post.) Sorry!
TJ Hirst
November 9th, 2008 @ 7:44 pm

I think I’ll bite on answering, from my perspective, these questions: What does the virtual world offer us that the physical world can not?

Someone mentioned cut the small talk and get to the real stuff. In the physical world I feel trapped in by circumstances into too much small talk and crave getting to the heart of it. That’s what I can do when I write and to share it in a blog frees it from myself and invites others to share in that thought process I’m having.

The other question I wanted to respond to, When given the choice, do our words and pictures frame our true reality, or rather, how we want others to see us?

While I cannot speak for any others, I think my words and pictures frame the woman I am becoming. Writing them down and sharing them is the first steps in acknowledging the direction of my pursuit. I have been blogging for a year and have seen how my desire to illuminate the everyday has given voice to that part of the woman in me I want to become and and now I can say that I am her.
b.
November 9th, 2008 @ 10:32 pm

Leslie…I had forgotten to mention what writing and reading other sister blogs has done for my marriage (19.5 years) and my feelings toward my husband. I have thought to myself many times how much I appreciate the various thoughts and insights I have read from those both younger and older than me….what a blessing!
Michelle Glauser
November 12th, 2008 @ 8:22 am

Cool, I will be writing my master’s thesis on the shift from journals to blogs in Mormon women’s lives. I’m glad to hear others are interested.
Blog Segullah : Wait on the Lord
November 13th, 2008 @ 6:42 am

[...] another Guest Post from Leslie at Heaven’s Overlook. Missed her post on blogging last week? Here it is. You’re welcome. And thanks [...]
Michelle Glauser
September 11th, 2009 @ 6:27 am

I mentioned this post in my master’s thesis and thought you might like to take a look.

http://michelleglauser.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-you-may-read-my-thesis-but-you-dont.html

Thanks for writing!