Tuesday 7 May 2013

'No Big Important Truth to Share'

You think you have nothing to say.  You think that you're all blogged out.  You wonder if you'll ever hit 'publish' again - and then you stumble across a post like this, from Tanis Miller, where she perfectly expresses how wrung out on the writing front I have felt for the last week or so.

'I have no big important truth to share' she writes.  God, I remember the early days of my blog when I had big important truths to share.  When my observations on the world - or at least, my observations on MY world - were fighting for space on the keyboard, when I always had something to say and was full of confidence that someone out there would find it interesting.  It was finding the time to write the posts down that was the problem, back then.

Nowadays with both my sons in school all day, I have the time - ostensibly, at least.  But all of a sudden the sense of urgency has departed, and I seem to have less to say.  Why is that?  Perhaps it's because the helter-skelter topsy-turvy ride that is being the parent of babies and pre-schoolers is behind me now.  Perhaps it's because I'm guarding my children's future memories more closely.  It could be that I'm guarding my own privacy more carefully these days - which is ironic, because actually there are more people out there who can now put a face to the name 'Potty Mummy' than there ever have been before.

Then of course, I could blame Kindle - for sucking up my evenings and making great books so ridiculously easily available, or The Great Work (aka my novel) which is taking up more of my time and headspace than it has ever done.  Frankly by the time I hit my traditional blogging sweetspot (after 9.30pm when the Boys are in bed, the washing up is sorted and the house is tidy), the absolute last thing I want to do is sit down at the laptop and start being witty / creative / outraged / wise / whimsical / probably none of the above when I've already written, re-read, edited and questioned the value of a thousand words plucked from thin air earlier in the afternoon.

But here I am, blogging anyway.  Because, who says blogging has to be about big important truths all the time?  Sometimes it's just about reminding yourself that you have a life away from the daily grind, as I did today when I ventured into downtown Moscow to take photos of preparations for Victory Day, of Muscovites enjoying the long-overdue sunshine, and of landmarks showing themselves to their best advantage in the hard-edged Russian summer sun.

A big important truth - and I do have some, fighting to be released into the ether once I figure out how best to share them - is great, from time to time.  But so, sometimes, is just blogging for the sake of feeling the words flow.

Or not.



3 comments:

  1. Sometimes you don't need big truths to share, just words that need to get out.

    I'd love to chat about the novel. I am 31000 words into mine and it would be great to chat to someone else going through the process

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  2. I remember at the very first Cybermummy (while Noah was building his ark), one of the speakers (was it Rachel Johnson?) said that domesticity had been reclaimed by bloggers. That it was now ok to talk about small details of daily life. It struck me at the time, and has lived with me. Yes, we've reclaimed that territory as something that's interesting.

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  3. Well done for getting on and writing that novel....no wonder you don't have time for blogging. It's always nice to hear from you, even if it's not a big important truth.

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