Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Why a blog is like a box of chocolate

I think, therefore I blog...or something like that.

I'm B. A. Binns, a young adult writer, but even though a lot of young adults are neither blog readers or blog writers, I still blog. For me it's a little like talking, or maybe like writing. I blog because I have something to say. And, as much as I hope there will be someone to read these words, I blog for me as well as for them.

My blog VOICE and my writing VOICE are very different.  I sometimes get too intellectual when I blog, just as I may end up too colloquial when I'm writing.  That's partly because I edit the dickens out of my books, but not the blogs.

But mainly it's because I get to be myself when I blog, and I have to be someone else, the viewpoint character, when I write. I channel someone I have created, someone that can't be me, because the stories I write are not my stories, they belong to the reader. But the blog is all me.

So maybe that's the real reason I blog, so I can leave pieces of me behind. What goes down depends on where I am in life at the time I write, I don't run and grab the character sketch, I AM the character sketch. Before I sit down I don't know what I'm going to write. After I get up, I'm sometimes amazed by what I said, and how much of myself I end up revealing.

So, open the box, check out some of the chocolate choices in a few of my prior posts for Romancing the Genres, and tell me tell me if you like what you see. 

And if you blog too, let me know, I'd love to come visit some time.

7 comments:

Sarah Raplee said...

And you always have something interesting to say, B.A.!

I've thought of the 'box of chocolates' comparison, too. That's part of what makes reading blog posts fun: you never know what you'll get!

Judith Ashley said...

I'm amazed that you don't edit your blog posts! Since I've read all of your Romancing The Genres blog posts I can truthfully say that you are my favorite kind of chocolate (chocolate and nuts or maybe chocolate and mint and then there is chocolate and chocolate ganache - variety is good).

Because of RTG, I'm in the process of revitalizing my personal blog www.JudithAshley@blogspot.com on Intentions and Synchronicity. And I'd love it if you stopped by.

Cynthia said...

Greetings, Barbara.

Fun post. Interesting point you make about having a different voice when you blog vs. when you really write. Because I write nonfiction, there really isn't a difference, and I hadn't thought of how writing fiction would change that. Good insight.

I enjoy blogging, too -- because it gives me a place to share all the stuff I can't share in the other things I write, either because of word limits or it's slightly off topic. I have two blogs at present, http://www.waltzingaustralia.com and http://www.theworldsfare.org -- one to share tales that complement my book on Australia and the other about food history, recipes, and travels to places other than Australia.

So thanks for the post -- and thanks for letting us know about it. Happy blogging.

Cynthia

Anonymous said...

I just like reading blogs, and hearing how people think and see their world.

Paty Jager said...

GReat blog. I love the comparison. I'm the same way, while part of my blogging is my writing self there is another part that is me. Some days I differentiate and other days I don't.

I should blog more about what I think but then I figure people would get bored with my Pollyanna take on the world.

Fun post!

Anonymous said...

Barbara,

I'm a fellow WisRWA member as you are and saw your post. I got pulled into blogging not sure it was "right" for me, but I've been at it faithfully once a week for 3 years now.

I feel like you. My blog is me, not some character I write about.

Great blog.

Sandy said...

I love to blog, and it's mostly about my interests and not promoting my books. Sometimes people are interested in what I have to say and other times not.