I like to write, and to share what I write with others. I started blogging back in 2000 or thereabouts, so this is nothing new
What is new is that lately I have been blogging pretty regularly: almost daily, in fact. I sometimes feel like I’m overwhelming people with my posts. Or that they might perceive what I write as complaining about my life, which is a pretty good life all things considered.
Why so much medical or private stuff?
My posts on this blog, Ubergeek Kelly’s World, are about my life. That life is a mix of things: technology, politics, little things we’ve done around the house, cats and dogs, trips I’ve taken, and lately a lot of stuff about my medical issues. I am by no means implying through my writing that what I experience is even a fraction of the difficulty some people face: and yet I feel compelled to write about it. As I say: my life, for all its flaws and oddities, is quite good.
I think the process of writing itself is therapeutic for me. When I write something, even privately in a paper journal for example, it helps me clear my mind. Writing it down rationalizes the thing I write about, and quiets the part of my brain that dwells on such things.
And when I blog it is like writing in general but also a bit like a conversation. As with a conversation, sometimes just saying the thing makes it easier to face. Talking here about my medical problems makes them less scary in a way. The thoughts and details stop occupying so much space in my mind once I’ve shared them.
So what I get out of writing personal stuff in my blog is maybe a bit of therapy. You sometimes play the role of my (mostly silent) therapy group. That isn’t something I do with intent, but I do believe it is the truth of why I write so much that some might consider too personal.
Who is this blog for?
I’m writing about my life here, so things that are going on that seem funny, scary, or just weird to me are likely to show up in this blog. I’m not trying to sell a product or tell a particularly cohesive story: instead, what I post about is just top-of-mind for a particular timespan for me specifically.
If you don’t care about me then you might find it hard to get into the contents of this blog as a whole. You might find a few things that directly apply to something also going on in your life, interspersed with a bunch of stuff that is meaningless to you. Maybe you visit once or twice for those particular meaningful-to-you posts and then never return. I’m glad you found something useful here- assuming you found this post, it was nice having you visit.
Or you might start to find that you like the way I write even when the topic isn’t something that directly applies to you. Maybe you don’t care much about bipolar disorder, MRIs, or private weather stations, but you like the way I discuss things anyway because my tone appeals to you. That’s excellent: subscribe and come back.
But I don’t think I will ever revert to trying to make this site into some sort of commercial product. Good practice says I should build an audience around a singular topic and post regularly to satisfy their thirst for that specific content. People should know what they are going to get from the blog so they can keep coming back. But that won’t be the nature of this blog.
