Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Anonymous Blogging..
I haven’t done a Stream of Conciousness Sunday in a while! But I loved Fadra’s prompt today: Do you have a secret blogging life? Are you connected to your “real life” friends and family through social media? How does that affect your writing?
****************
Of course, you guys know that I am rebranding around here( sometime by the end of the summer instead of this month by the way). I briefly considered changing my URL to: myrealname.com, but changed my mind. You see, I LIKE blogging anonymously. I mean I’m not REALLY REALLY anonymous, photos of my family are all over this blog. And that only happened after about 3 years of blogging. I haven’t exactly kept it a secret, but I haven’t really shared it with anyone IRL either. I know my husband knows I keep one, but he doesn’t keep up. ( at least, I don’t think he does….) Even my twitter is anonymous. Instagram was until that damn Android got it and now, IRL folks are showing up out of the woodwork on my instagram feed. SMH. But it’s not connected to this blog…at all. The point is( and I do have one) is that I like saying what I have to say without having to sensor myself. Because lets face it my dears, I say a lot. This blog is like my therapy, and I would hate to have to give it up. I NEED this space like I need breathing. I need to share, without worrying about repercussions and what my friends family and co workers think. Do you understand? Because i’m not always nice on here. I’m not always objective and happy happy joy joy like they think I am. And I like it that way. Only my internet friends need to know how ratchet, crazy, silly, and depressing I can really be…..
************
this was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
- Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
- Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
- Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
- Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
- Link up your post at allthingsfadra.com.
- Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.
I can relate. I don’t post family photos at all. I wish I could be more open like some, but I enjoy the freedom of being able to do what I want without IRL people being in the know. Lol
I understand what you mean about being able to let go and be yourself. It’s funny, I’ve been trying to get my friends & family to read my blog and if they do, they don’t tell me. Blogging is therapy for me as well. I may have to join in one week. I work on Sundays and catch up on all my favorite blogs.
I love this prompt. And if I didn’t already publish about my race story, I definitely would have participated! But, anyway, back to your post, I totally get you! For many who blog, it would seem weird that bloggers could want to share things with strangers on the internet more than some close in their real lives. But when you’re a blogger, you get it. Only a handful of my friends know about my blog, I think. 😉 My immediate family knows, but that’s it. I don’t say anything too personal on my blog, but I do say a lot. And I’m too honest. If someone were to stumble upon my blog, I wouldn’t panic. But, I also won’t be sharing that I blog with many in my real life anything soon.
I meant to say “anytime” not “anything” in the last sentence. Sorry. 🙂
That’s why I am careful of pictures I put up. My family is old so they won’t read my blog but the hubs family I can care less about them if they read it they don’t tell me. Now I use to know a lot of people so I am careful with putting pictures of myself up because you never know who knows who and I like to be anonymous sometimes so I can have the element of surprise.
I totally get it and totally understand the need for anonymity. It is comforting to know that people IRL aren’t going to possibly change their opinions of you or judge or that you will have to watch what you say because Big Brother is watching and will hold you accountable for something you wrote on the blog.
Best wishes as you try and keep your Instagram IRL friends from your blog.
I find I become less and less anonymous the more I enjoy blogging.
I like the streme of consciensous post. I may have to try it on Sunday.
I’m the same way with my blog. I’ve posted pics from the very beginning of mine but I only link it in a couple places. I too like to speak freely. I have only shared my blog with ONE IRL friend but that’s about it. I don’t even use IG. I started when droid got it but quickly stopped lol
I hear what you’re saying but I wanted you to know in my head I consider you a friend in real life lol
Actually I’m a blog reader and also learner. So, always i want to try to learn some thing from you. We like reality in every where with blog also and try to practice for look forward. It’s my real theme. Thanks for sharing.
i feel you. i go back and forth about how much i want to share. i mean it is the world wide web. at first, i kept it from work peeps. now i’m pretty open and people at work have gotten to know me a bit more through my blog and i’m ok with that.
I envy you. I wish I could say what I wanted with no filter or censor. If I were you I wouldnt want to lose that ability. Its kind of precious BUT im paranoid and suspect that anything I say even when I say nothing is twisted around anyway so my point is either way you can win or lose so do what feels right and dont overthink things. Then things will click.
Girl! You are preaching to the choir! I blog semi-anonymously as well. Mainly because I love the freedom of saying what I want without being scrutinized by the folks I know IRL. I totally and completely understand the appeal of anonymous blogging. At the end of the day, you have to do what works for you and what makes you comfortable. Maybe you will want to be less anonymous in the future…until then, do what you like!
My posts are generally broad and random. I don’t even think there’s a photo of me on there. I seldom post pictures of my kids, but that’s because they’re always hiding from my camera phone. My blog is linked to all of my online profiles, but I don’t come out and share it with my irl family and friends.
When I try to write a really personal post I end up deleting it. One day I just want to write and not care. It’s my blog and I pay that $10 hosting fee every month darn it… LOL!
Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha
My family knows that I blog as well as a few friends at work. Well, I’ve recently put it on my resume. It hasn’t hurt and adds to conversation. I don’t post to many personal things (because I don’t have any personal business really). Since I am a bit of a loner, (minus blog events) my RL and blog life overlap a bit, I think.
I use to be anonymous when I frequent message boards back in the Blackplanet days.
I so understand your desire to remain anonymous. My blogs reveal my info and I have co-workers who read along. Knowing this, I do refrain from putting some really controversial topics out there.
I think you made a great point for remaining anonymous. My truest thoughts usually come out on a Sunday and those are the days my family are least likely to read. And I kind of like that.