There I was on the edge, wondering if I should do it or not...Do I dare? What will happen if I do? How will people react? All questions that raced through my mind right at that moment as I poised to take the plunge...Then I figured, what's the worst that could happen if I do, would anyone really care? And so I...
...clicked publish.
A couple hours earlier I had begun a post on a topic that I would normally not write about simply through not having any experience with the topic. I'm not sure what made me begin it but that's what I did and once started I began to get into the swing of it. I entitled the post Beginning of forever and you can click on the title to read it if you like.
The issue for me was that it tackled the delicate topic of miscarriage and because I really have no clue about it, and it could be a raw subject for a reader who has, I just wasn't sure if I should post it.
I did though and feel really pleased that I did so as I feel I put together a quite mediocre and acceptable piece of writing, and have received some nice comments about it which made me smile. Thank you to those who commented.
I've seen some recent talk about content here on the platform lately and feel inclined to say a word or two about it. Don't worry, it's not a hive-post, more a post about posting.
Here's the thing people...Quality is subjective.
What you like may not be what someone else likes and your understanding of a concept may differ from another persons. You may hate what someone else loves or maybe your post is challenged because english isn't your first language and so someone sees it as poor quality.
So, let's just agree that the judgement of quality differs from person to person. We are all individuals after all. And none of us perfect. Yep, you're not. I'm not.
I also see some dialogue around the fact that some don't feel any of the content here is any good.
You know the, we need good content creators comments or things like I can't find good content blah blah blah. Yeah, ok well that's pretty insulting to everyone. It's pretty damned rude I think...Especially considering the typos, spelling and punctuation errors those posts I've read are peppered with.
You see, we're just a bunch of normal people.
We're not writers, philosophers, intellectuals, chefs, rocket scientists...We are just normal people, and as it turns out, so are those writers, philosophers and intellectuals I mentioned. They do what they do and are good at it, get them out of their comfort zone and they're probably completely clueless, or at the very least, probably not as good at it as they are at their core skill.
So, we're normal. Completely normally abnormal like all humans.
Why then is there pressure to create amazing work here. Could we do so even if we tried? I'm going to call it...Fuck no, we couldn't!
Has anyone seen the content on the other social sites on the interwebs lately? Pretty mediocre right? So...How about we not be so hard on ourselves. It exerts undue pressure and I think it may cause people to hold back from creating something they might be really passionate about, for fear of judgement. Take me with my miscarriage post I mentioned above. I was actually fearful of people thinking it was terrible!
I often hand out a little advice to people here and there; Sometimes it's asked for, sometimes I offer it to newbies and sometimes it just comes out organically in a post...If you haven't seen it, here it is.
Post with personality, passion and effort about things that capture your interest, you are curious about or have an opinion on.
It's pretty simple really.
I had an interest in creating a fictional piece yesterday, something to stretch my mind, imagination, writing skills, ability to tell a story and to hold a readers' interest. I knew only a few would read it, I also knew I may be judged if it was really terrible. I even knew I was ill-equipped emotionally to write on such a topic...But I was passionate about taking on the challenge, to put the effort into making it as good as I could make it with my never finished high school brain and added some personality to it as I try to do with everything I write.
Yes, it's not Salinger's Catcher In the Rye, or Tolstoy's War and Peace...It's certainly not Homer's Iliad, or Dante's Inferno...It's the G-dogs mediocre piece of fiction...Nothing more or less...And, the G-dog isn't a writer, he's much more than that, but you won't know unless you have read my blog going back almost three years. I'm a lot of things, but a professional writer I am not.
That's the thing right? You don't have to be a famous chef to cook, or write about cooking. You don't have to be an accomplished sportsman to talk, or write, about sport. You don't have to have travelled around the world to write about travelling. Just a few examples.
... and post with personality, passion and effort about things that capture your interest, you are curious about or have an opinion on.
So, for everyone out there, or maybe just the handful who may read this...
Do it. Don't be afraid. Write about something you might not normally talk about here. Share your personality and passion. You don't have to share your identity, just your thoughts, opinions, interests, imagination...Don't worry about judgement...Who cares if someone else writes better than you...It doesn't matter...They're not you...You are!
Oh, and you lot who cant find good content...You won't find it on Discord...It'll be on-platform...If you can't find any I guess there's other places to look, like your local library...Let me know, I can suggest several thousand books I've read over the years.
People...You want to make this place awesome? Cool...Write something, share something and engage with people...Like all the time...Not just once. Engage with people and they'll engage back. It's sort of like catching coronavirus...It spreads, but in a good way, unlike the coronavirus which is shit.
I don't know...Maybe this is a little bit of a rant...Doesn't matter though right? Why not? Well, it's my rant. That's the beauty of this place. We can express ourselves. So...Do it. Take the plunge.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209
The photo is my own...I'm not a photographer either, so yeah, it sucks but it's mine so yeah, it's all good I guess.
