MENUMENU
  • About
  • Buy
  • Press
  • Book Clubs
  • Writer Resources
  • Allie Larkin
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • g

Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

You are here: Home / life / I haven’t been blogging

I haven’t been blogging

November 13, 2008 Filed Under: life

I briefly toyed with the idea of doing NaBloMoFo or whatever it is, but then I went the other way by not blogging at all.

In truth, I’ve had too much going on to blog. Which sounds ridiculous, because isn’t that what I’m supposed to be blogging about?

I have this issue with truth. In college creative writing classes they taught us about “Creative Non-Fiction,” a term, I have heard, you’ll get laughed out of town for using in the publishing world, even though it’s taught like it’s a real thing in college. We were taught with triumphant school speak that your experiences are yours! Your reality is from your perspective! Own it! Write about it honestly! Don’t worry about truth in facts! Deal with truth of emotion. (I got tired of the exclamation points and felt that one more would just be obnoxious).

But here’s the thing, I don’t own my life, because my life isn’t just about me. If I tell you where I was the last week and what I was doing and who I was with and how I felt about it, it wouldn’t just be about me, and there’s a part of me that feels like that’s supremely unfair. The people in my life agree to be my friends, they don’t agree to be my subjects, and I’m not 100 percent sure about how to reconcile that in my head.

Do you wrestle with that? How do you find your balance between talking about your life and ratting out the people you love?

I’m still going to keep blogging. And I’m going to try to be as honest as I can, but this is something I’m struggling with right now. Funny. Green bloggers don’t have these problems. Kitty litter never hurt anyone’s feelings (as far as I know).

6 Comments

Comments

  1. Noelle says

    November 13, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    It’s a problem. A friend of mine recently told me that something I wrote about her hurt her feelings. The hitch? It wasn’t about her.

    But that’s the same thing I’ve heard almost every author say about their friends and family. Everyone thinks its about them. I don’t know if there’s any way around that issue unless you always make everything positive.

    That way you can guarantee you’ll be so boring, you’ll have no readers, and problem solved.

    Reply
  2. Howling Hill says

    November 13, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    I haven’t had anything to do, thus nothing to blog about. Sucks.

    I wrote a post about loneliness and feeling friendless and one of my “real life” friends totally took offense to it. Thing is, I don’t know if she’s a friend or not and felt that way before I wrote the post.

    Reply
  3. Mickey says

    November 14, 2008 at 2:11 am

    It can be a problem. I try to be sensitive, but I have experienced someone misunderstanding my intentions in blogland. But then I made her dinner and everything was fine.

    I try to stick to the old adage, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, just make sure that person doesn’t read your blog.” It usually works.

    Just write what you feel like writing, always.

    Reply
  4. Courtney says

    November 14, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    It’s hard to get certain emotions across in writing. Mickey’s referring to one time when he was being sarcastic and I thought he was being serious, and my feelings were hurt. Talking it out helps.

    Remember: It’s your blog. Write what makes you happy.

    Reply
  5. Willow says

    November 14, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    I just read your post about jeans. I will tell you a little secret: Chico’s. Don’t say, yuck, it’s for old ladies. The jeans fit– well, they fit me and they stay up where they belong.

    About the bloggin/writing, I just wrote a long paragraph that I deleted b/c I have been thinking about your comments and trying to respond and I don’t know what to say except I hope that you don’t stop writing or blogging and face to face or phone to phone is sometimes best for solving a ‘difference of opinion’.

    Reply
  6. Allie says

    November 14, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    You all are so wonderful. Thank you for your input on this!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

  • Home
  • Allie Larkin
  • Blog
  • Book Clubs
  • Contact
  • Writer Resources

allielarkinwrites

Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda match. I admit it. Alright? We all knew this was coming. None of this should be a surprise to any of us. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogjacket #peoplewhomatchtheirdogs
Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn chair. And she likes it! #dailyroxydog #chihuahuamix #ilovemydog
We are in the habit of starting and ending our day We are in the habit of starting and ending our days side by side in our lawn chairs, while the light rises or dims. It’s still chilly at the outer edges of the day. Sometimes Roxy shivers. I bought her a sweater, but she won’t wear it. Sometimes I try to wrap her in my jacket, but she’s not having that either, so I throw her ball and try to get her run and then she comes back to her chair, warm for a little longer. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogssittinginchairs
“I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to “I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to heaven in a split pea shell.” ~ @petermulvey43 Words Too Small to Say
Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyro Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyroxydog #huskymixesofinstagram
I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic ant I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic antique store sometime in November and didn’t buy it. But then, of course, I kept thinking about her. She’s the perfect size for my office, and I found those drawer pulls hilarious. When I finally went back in December, I told myself I was shopping for wall art, because I assumed she would be gone. But she was right where I’d seen her last: balanced on another dresser with boxes of old picture frames and tchotchkes piled on top (the true mark of a magic antique store). I didn’t even realize she had a towel rack — that she was a wash stand, not a dresser — until I asked about the price, said I’d take her, and my favorite magic antique store person asked if we needed to unscrew the towel rack to fit her in my car. I suspect this little sweetie is not from the days of necessary wash stands so much as from a country kitchen in the 80s. She was in rough shape, and not made from wood worth stripping and re-staining, but her price reflected that. I had to disassemble that door and put it back together, but I’d been in the market for some experience working with old furniture, and she made me feel brave about trying. I thought about painting her something more neutral, but I’m so glad I didn’t. She deserves to be pink. She’s not perfectly painted and needs a few touch ups. I learned some things about chalk paint and finishes. The drawers stick a bit. Eventually, I’d like to line them with fabric and when I do, I might plane the edges to smooth things out. But goodness, I love her in a way that I wouldn’t if I hadn’t spent time cleaning away her cobwebs and scrubbing the grime from her hilarious drawer pulls. She’s also become a little shrine for the book I’m working on, which makes me love her even more. I’ve always been a person who sees some soul in certain things, and I’m learning to cherish that idiosyncrasy, because there’s so much joy to be found in a brave little toaster or an underdog wash stand. We’re not here in the world for all that long. We may as well love some bright little things. #furnituremakeover
Load More... Follow on Instagram

© Allison Larkin | Site by Little Leaf Design