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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

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Internationally bestselling author of STAY, WHY CAN'T I BE YOU and SWIMMING FOR SUNLIGHT. THE PEOPLE WE KEEP coming from @gallerybooks on 8/3/2021

Allison Larkin
A few days ago, I took this photo of turkeys while A few days ago, I took this photo of turkeys while I was out on a run, marveling at how wild animals do not seem to mind when they see me. Once, I almost bumped into a deer, the way a couple might meet-cute in a rom com. We just didn’t see each other. I’ve always thought it was a fun little quirk. Not even bunnies are afraid of me. But this afternoon on my run, I came up over a hill and was suddenly within fifteen feet of a wild boar. Thankfully, a year or two ago I got curious about the big traps that show up trailside around the bay, looked them up and learned about how fast, ruthlessly aggressive, and unpredictable a wild boar can be. Otherwise, I might have (stupidly) thought I was in the middle of another one of my Snow White moments and been all “Hello there, Mr. Pig! Look at you!” believing that I could quietly observe in wonder. Instead, I knew this was a bad situation. The boar grunted and moved to the center of the trail. It felt very ‘You shall not pass!’ But I did not want to pass. I wanted to get away. I backed slowly for a few moments and then turned and ran faster than I ever have in my whole life. I’ve since learned that there’s no way that boar chased me, because there’s no chance of outrunning a boar (climb a tree if you can). But I know that boar saw me and also wasn’t happy about the surprise, and I had a moment, racing back over the hills I’d just run — not daring to look behind me more than once or twice in fear I’d lose my footing — when I truly did not know what would happen. I’ve been in scary situations, but they were a different kind of scary. I don’t think I’ve ever flat out run for my life before, but that’s truly what I thought I was doing. Right now I am still full of adrenaline and also exhausted and so so thankful to be okay.
My lemon is a happy fox. #fruitfaces My lemon is a happy fox. #fruitfaces
I think there’s something about getting older an I think there’s something about getting older and reaching back to the core of who you are. I’ve always been at my happiest when I’m up in a tree.
Portrait of the bestest girl. Stella may be slowin Portrait of the bestest girl. Stella may be slowing down, but she’s still exceptionally curious. #dailystelladog #germanshepherd
Portrait of a woman who just wants a free moment t Portrait of a woman who just wants a free moment to paint over the poop brown bathroom walls that came with this house.
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