![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
So I haven't written a lot here recently. Here's why:
I hand-delivered a copy of Polaris to a great fellow here in Helsinki who, I guess, is a bit of a fan of mine. Anyway, he reads this journal, and made reference to some stuff that I'd done recently.
And damned if that didn't feel wierd. I mean, not that it was anything really personal, it just felt wierd to talk to this guy I just met about things I'd done in the past. It felt way too intimate for a first meeting.
When I started this journal, I made a point of making every post public, because I want to lead a life that is by and large without secrets and obfuscations. I have violated this rule only a few times, for very personal reasons. Ideally, I would like anyone who cares to know about me to know about me.
But, also, there are a lot more people reading this than just my circle of friends and family now. I have published a book and, like it or not, that makes me sort of a public figure. I don't know if I want everything in my life to be a matter of public record if people are actually going to read about it.
So I'm trying to decide between:
1) change my writing in this journal to mostly sanitized things that I don't mind total strangers reading.
2) move most everything to friends-lock, thus locking out a lot of people who I'd like to be able to read the journal from reading it.
Thoughts?
I hand-delivered a copy of Polaris to a great fellow here in Helsinki who, I guess, is a bit of a fan of mine. Anyway, he reads this journal, and made reference to some stuff that I'd done recently.
And damned if that didn't feel wierd. I mean, not that it was anything really personal, it just felt wierd to talk to this guy I just met about things I'd done in the past. It felt way too intimate for a first meeting.
When I started this journal, I made a point of making every post public, because I want to lead a life that is by and large without secrets and obfuscations. I have violated this rule only a few times, for very personal reasons. Ideally, I would like anyone who cares to know about me to know about me.
But, also, there are a lot more people reading this than just my circle of friends and family now. I have published a book and, like it or not, that makes me sort of a public figure. I don't know if I want everything in my life to be a matter of public record if people are actually going to read about it.
So I'm trying to decide between:
1) change my writing in this journal to mostly sanitized things that I don't mind total strangers reading.
2) move most everything to friends-lock, thus locking out a lot of people who I'd like to be able to read the journal from reading it.
Thoughts?
no subject
The discomfort that you feel when a random stranger knows all about you because they read your blog? That seems pretty common for anyone with a fan base. Your options seem to be to either get over it, or to turtle up.
Frankly, I'd advise you to try and deal with it. If for no other reason than turtling up would probably hurt your sales. People like authors who seem to be open and accessible. (That's why I read Neil Gaiman's blog. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/officialgaiman/)) I agree with the common advice here: friends-lock the really private stuff, and keep blogging publicly otherwise.
(As for your friends without LJ accounts: I have no idea. You could just e-mail them the text of your post. Perhaps someone more tech-savvy than I might have a better solution?)
And finally, this is probably obvious to you, but in case it isn't:
Never write down anything you wouldn't want made public some day.
Accounts can be hacked; diaries can be stolen. Nothing written down is ever really secret.
no subject
BTW, it doesn't look like we've met. Hi, I'm Ben. What's your name?
yrs--
--Ben
no subject
I use a pseudonym on LJ; in fact, when I started, I thought it was common practice. My wife and friends all use pseudonyms. It seems weird to me when someone uses their real name on LJ. We can discuss this further, if the topic interests you; let me know.
I just threw that "secrets" comment on the end there, as an aside. It was actually rather off-topic, so, sorry about that.