thoughs on weblog writing
I really have nothing to pitch. I talk about my life, some health problems, some thoughts, some news. I can’t really blog about the “exciting” things that happen at work, mainly because of respect to the people it effects. And that’s the “rub”.
I’ve worked a couple of high profile events, very newsworthy events, but I respect my separate roles. As a Weblogger, I write about my life and talk about what I want to. As a PR/Marketing person, I must respect the privacy of the company, governmental officials, news agencies, and on and on.
As I thought about writing this entry, I thought about how Amy controlled what she said to a reporter. She didn’t want to be a lede on 9-11. She, like any journalist, knows what can be used and what couldn’t. While I’m not a journalist, I am around events that are newsworthy. I make it a policy not to discuss these things online. I love my job, love my family, and I really don’t want to make this fun thing turn into something that bites me.
Does this effect my writing? Yes. At times tremendously. Like here. My work got to me. Talked about it with Niki, couldn’t talk to anyone online. Many people were effected that day and dammit, if you were around them you just felt like you lost someone too. There are other things that have happened, to where I actually pulled some of my posts. While I had no problem talking about my health problems in 2000 & 2001, I really resisted talking about Niki’s until I cleared it with her. She had problems at her old employer, I had a scathing entry and toned it down after running it by her. I had lots of problems with my old employer, but no matter how bad I was being screwed over, I couldn’t bring that online.
It’s that thin little line that sometimes gets crossed. If you respect people, you almost have to censor yourself.
October 3rd, 2002 at 2:10 am
Your reading way too much into this weblog thing. Nobody but the creepy incestuos weblog folk even read these things anyway.
Write about whatever you please, politics, your life, your sex life (.jpg only <30K please)… whatever. The thing that makes this different is the freedom to publish whatever you damn well please.
Don’t censor yourself, that’s just cheap. Rather, determine where your line is and stick to it.
October 3rd, 2002 at 9:10 am
well I am a creep, so that is par for the course :)
I’ve been doing weblogs since 1996, and I actually stopped for a few years, because I had a boss (in 96′) who took exception to something I wrote critical of the org. He could have fired me, because this (talking about the company) was against our policy. But he hid it and just warned me. It did wind up getting me my first paid web design job though.
I write what I want, mostly. There are about three to six times I’ve pulled back what I’ve wrote. Either because I reread it and it completely sucked (more than usual) or someone felt it was a strike at them. I pulled that one, because it was more important to salvage a family relationship than just give the finger.
The one I linked to, was a horrible day. We had a young officer shot and they brought her into our ER. I was the first media rep on scene and she was still alive. I was there as she was pronouced dead, I was there as her fellow officers came in and broke down, and I was there when her family came in. It’s really a shitty way to meet the Mayor. But while I could have wrote about that, our local media did a good job, but I would have just added fuel where there didn’t need to be fuel.