Step Away From The Blog

And Nobody Gets hurt.

My wife is a writer…she can write circles around me while she reads a book and talks on the phone, and if she were a dancer, she could probably do the Macarena at the same time . Yet until recently she hadn't considered herself a writer and according to her, sometimes she still doesn't. I see Julie's doubting view of her writing as something of a paradox. I wish I could get my head around this concept a little more, but I am the type who imagines writing as one of my gifts. Even if I am not that good, and even if I never wrote again, the potential would be there and so, in my mind, I am a writer. So I was both flattered and shocked when she started asking for my feedback on her biweekly column. I was even more shocked when she gently mentioned that she sometimes felt strange about my blogging, especially since she pushed me to start a site.

Her reason, well, I'm not sure that I understand her reason. Trying to explain a complex emotional response to me is like trying to fish for worms using a mackerel for bait. But I think her reason had something to do with not competing for subject matter, and her identity, and my identity and keeping them separate. All stuff that guys like me don't readily understand, I mean if I'm going fishing, and you want to go fishing, I say, "well, what are you waiting for, come on … just don't go fishing in my spo…." OK, I think I get it now. Well even if I didn't get it, I would respect her wishes…that's just the way we work, and so far it has worked for us to work this way.

Anyway, what all 600 and some odd words leading up to this point are all about is this: My blog's attitude, or bloggitude, will change to reflect a coarser, less introspective, more gonzo me that could never be confused with Julie. So if you find yourself not believing a word that I say, you are probably at least half right. And if in the course of the change I lose as many as half of my daily readers, I'll still have a solid base readership of two. So Julie and whoever else decides to stay, enjoy.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[paul]

Don't worry Gary, those of us that know you never did believe half of what you said. Keep up the great work.

[Genuine]

*blink...blink*

So no link to the column? You need to pimp your wife! And I mean that in the most asexual way of course!

[debby]

I am not going anywhere, so you are stuck with me. Sorry for you (checking to see if they make a Hallmark for that)

[AGK]

If this was your way of trying to chase off readers, you'll have to try harder :D

[Rachel Ann]

Well, you can make that (whatever the count is up to) plus
one more. I like the way your fingers hit those keys!

[Robin P]

Oh crap.....am I the only one who is confused, as usual?
What does all this mean? What has to change and why?
You and Julie have totally different styles of writing. Even though you both occasionally write about the same thing (buying the house)it's still from 2 very different perspectives. I don't read Julie's post and then head over here, see it's the same subject and say, "Already read it buddy, sorry" and go elsewhere. Your styles of writing are very different. So please explain to me what has to change cuz I am very confused!!

[Judith]

I am confused also and not going anywhere also. BTW which is Julie's blog?

[Philip]

Okay, I have to voice my very strong disagreement with Julie's opinion here, AND you're easy acquiescence. From what I've read to date, you're voice is one of gentle reason, sometimes tinged with suppressed anger or disbelief at the inequities, injustice, and plain cruelty that runs so rampant in our world, touched with an almost ivory-tower introspection. For one thing, your spouse shouldn't ask you to change your voice or subject matter simply because she does similar work at a different blog location. Hello? It's your family as well, and you have passions and opinions and a great deal of love to express on these subjects. She pointed you in this direction to begin with. Second, you can't just change your voice and become "gonzo." It's like asking Walter Cronkite to emcee the MTV Awards, or telling Carl Sagan to host the Gong Show. Third, I would never confuse your identity with anyone's; your lovely, and talented wife has nothing to fear. The fact that you are both writers is very cool. She doesn't have the right to ask you to stop, and you are doing yourself, and your son (who will someday read his parents' thoughts and have an invaluable tool for coping with the adult world) a disservice by not sharing a talent and a passion for writing about these subjects. I feel very strongly about this. I'll understand completely if you axe this comment, but I wouldn't be true to my own nature if I didn't say it. I would like to blog this, but I will have the grace to leave it be. Let me just say it once more though: don't stop.

[Amber]

No, no, no... This smacks of censorship, whether self-imposed for appeasement or for other reasons that can’t be read between the lines. I love reading both of you… as you are. I once referred to Julie as my One-A-Day, but if all I had was a One-A-Day then I would be sorely under nourished. If you change the feel of your blog for any other reason than because you expressly want to, will it not just cause tension in another form and come back to bite you in the a$$ when you least expect it?