Confessions and promises

Okay, there have been confessions happening all over the place lately. In fact I've been weighing in with confessions about a number of things in comments on other people's blogs (I really can't keep track of what, my memory isn't that good). But I know I have confessed. To, oh, lots of things...from a weakness for a good recipe, to chocolate cravings, to not passing on blog awards, to not reading enough and instead, watching too much TV.



It's just occurred to me, though, that I've been a bit thin with the confessions on my own blog. In fact I've been a bit guarded with everything I say on here. I think I'm still getting used to this new media; to writing what is basically a public email - readable by anyone who happens across it. I should mention that when it comes to Facebook, I rarely leave more than the most innocuous posts on people's walls (for the uninitiated, someone's Facebook wall is pretty much a public forum). I prefer to send a private message, rather than having back and forth interactions for all to see. I also almost never send Facebook status updates (for which I'm sure most of my friends are heartily grateful).

The big difference with a blog of course is the subject matter. It's not really private chat material. Hopefully we're talking about stuff here in the blogging world which is of interest to more than one person, so it makes sense to have discussions via the public forum of 'posts' and 'comments'.

Still, I've been approaching it all in a very dry, formal way. Hoping to write posts which are informative, based on personal experience...but giving as little away about myself as possible. Some people's blog posts are literally dripping with personality. Mine, to put it bluntly, are usually not. Again, I think this is because I'm basically a pretty private person, and letting the real me escape and go running around out there is still a slightly scary thought. That, and I do naturally tend towards a fairly formal writing style anyway. In earlier years I wrote historical romance, emulating (with little success) writers like the late great Georgette Heyer and even Jane Austen, and I periodically have to beat the windy, overblown, floral language and long, meandering sentences out of my more contemporary manuscripts.

The problem with all of the above is that I'm increasingly realising that the only thing which differentiates one blogger from another is their personality. Their voice. (Yep, that elusive thing that only turns up when it's good and ready, and can apparently make the difference between your MS being slush pile fodder and it being the 'next big thing'.) Their unique take on the world. Even their sense of humour, irreverent or otherwise.

So here's my promise to you, my wonderful and much appreciated followers and readers. From now on, I'm letting out the real me. I won't self censor, or try to sound like someone I'm not. I'll try and be honest (though hopefully still tactful) in my views about this soul-wrenching and ego-destroying writing business we're all engaged in. And from now on, my posts (at least some of them) may be personal, even intimate - in preference to being well researched, informative....and dry as a pile of dusty bones.

You heard it here first.