A beginning, or perhaps a disclaimer

[beetiger]

I've been thinking of doing something like this for over a decade. At first it was going to be a paper 'zine, something about cooking and eating and playing with food, to print on the office photocopier and mail off to random people. Then an online journal, as the phenomenon became popular. But I never have. I've never built a personal webpage either, despite having the space sitting there on my ISP account for years. The only thing vaguely like that I ever did was the homebrew version of the World Tree webpage, and that mostly because people who had seen demos at cons were asking for it, and because we needed a place to drop our shared campaign material.

The vast majority of weblogs I've seen have either been extremely mundane and tedious, or fairly political, or share the author's sex life and fantasies in intimate detail, or rant about various people the author knows, with the names omitted but the identities clear. I've never been very political. I'm not interested in writing about my sex life for an audience for whom it isn't directly relevant (though I will write about sexuality in general). I don't like upsetting my friends by talking about them, and I'd rather take up issues I have with people directly with them.

But recently, several friends who are actually pretty interesting have asked me to read their journals. And I have been. But I'm feeling like the wrong kind of voyeur, a consumer, someone who eats up what other people have to offer without offering something in return. Not something I've ever wanted to be. Therefore this, now. I still have no desire to be tedious, though, and if I become so, I hope you'll tell me.

Comments

Sumimasen!

[nekojin.livejournal.com]

I am very sorry if my discussions of sex are offensive!

Erotic Journaling

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Oh no, they're not offensive at all! I actually enjoy reading erotic writing very much. I've been enjoying yours, and I hope you keep doing it. I just don't personally want to do first-person erotic writing for this sort of forum, if for no other reason than that some of the other people involved are very private sorts.

I hope *I* haven't offended *you*!

[shaterri.livejournal.com]

Like I said in my comment-reply, welcome to LJ!

I think most of the people I know who've decided to do this are grappling with the same issues that you are. There's really a very fine line to be straddled there, and no guidelines on how to do it correctly. I still struggle with the same problems myself, and they're a major part of the reason I write as rarely as I do.

At the same time... there's a lot that can be said that's worth saying. I'm starting to think of it -- when I use it -- as a cross between a philosophical forum (on the hows and whys of everyday life, by and large) and a non-interactive chat session; knowing how your friends' days have been without ever having to actually catch them (online or off) to ask about it.

In the end, I'd say just write what feels natural to you. And try not to stress too much over that voyeurism; I think it's just a counterpart to the innate sort of exhibitionism that most blogs exhibit. Speaking momentarily from the other side of that divide -- but as someone who still consumes far more than I produce -- I wouldn't be writing it if I wasn't comfortable about having it read. Anything that's returned is honestly just gravy.