Fourteen books so far this year. I am well ahead of my goal. The most recent book I finished in only a few days. I also just realized that the last three books were both fiction – my goodness, three fiction books in a row! That’s unheard of.
Reading Mitzi Bytes was super interesting – it’s a fictional account of a blogger. She started blogging under a pseudonym, when she is single and miserable. The blog becomes famous. It’s a bit like Sex And The City. [Speaking of that show, I could never figure out how Carrie managed to pull off writing a public sex column and not freak out the potential suitors.]
The novel was not high literature, by any means, but the themes hit close to home. Blogging, and the balance between the private and public. My name has always been on the blog, which means I have to be even more careful when I share stories that are not fully mine. And what stories are 100% ours, any way? Perhaps, my lonesome travel musing? Even then – I encounter people every day, and tell their stories.
More often than not, the pile of mush between my ears is the direct result of interaction with others – actual live human beings with their own lives, who most likely do not share my propensity to live my life through the keyboard strokes. And so, the fine balance must be struck – just enough detail, but not too much.
As a blogger, and as a person, Mitzi is not the most likeable character in the world. In fact, she sounds like a bit of a bitch – a word I am sure some would use to describe me also. However, she seems to overestimate the security of internet privacy shroud, and goes to town, ripping her friends and neighbours to shreds. That does not appeal to me, not just because, hello! my name is on the blog! – but because it also seems that there is enough people out there on the internetz, ripping each other to shreds, and not enough people building each other up. So, call me crazy, but I’d rather build people up. Except when they do stupid shit, then, of course, all the bets are off. But then I’d say the same things to their face.
… it seems that there is enough people out there on the internetz, ripping each other to shreds, and not enough people building each other up. So, call me crazy, but I’d rather build people up…
If you go back into the archives (oh so much fun!), you’ll see that this blog started out with daily posts of the everyday. I went back and deleted some of the posts that were no longer of use to anyone, including myself (hey! I ran for thirty minutes today! this was way back when getting a workout in was indeed an accomplishment). However, many of the mundane, regular, nothing-special-is-happening-yet-here-I-am-writing-about-it posts are still there. A teaching day. A training day. A I-am-so-sick-of-this-shit day. I-just-feel-like-whining day. An-amazing-for-no-reason day.
I miss those days.
Mitzi writes short vignettes about her (and others’) life – they read like personal essays – starting out by sharing some of her romantic adventures, and writing her way to love, and trust, child rearing, and women’s relationships. Her blogging style reminds me of my own – take a scenario or a story, use it as a jumping off point, then run off with a flag, rambling and running around in circles.
The more detailed exposes that you might be familiar with do not follow this format – but those take days and weeks to put together. I can’t think about anything but that post for days, as it’s coming together, and after it’s finally written, I feel like I need a de-load week.
Apart from an occasional bomb like an unexpected engagement announcement (and then an unexpected marriage announcement), the category Life remained pretty lonely and unloved in the last couple of years. Yet life has not stopped happening. Racing every weekend is replaced by longer travel, and in between visits to far flung places – a more predictable working and training schedule. I got as close to “settled down” as one can get without actually installing a white picket fence – the husband, the house, the cats.
I still work remotely and my work schedule is still flexible, but I now work fairly regular hours, instead of more chaotic schedule I maintained for the first few years. I still train regularly, and race (but less). I eat (some) vegetables. Sometimes, I have crackers for breakfast. Then I wish I ate more vegetables. I drink coffee. I read books.
Booooooring.
I love it.
Hugs, SOLO