Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012.
The Blogversation kicked off a month ago and in case you haven’t followed the conversation, this is a recap — like when a TV show opens with that montage that says, “Previously on Friday Night Lights.”
What’s a Blogversation? Each week, I post a question here. So far I’ve written the questions, andstarting next week, the bloggers will rotate asking each other questions. A panel of bloggers all respond, sometimes just a quick note in the comments, sometimes a full blog post they’ll link to in the comments.
I’ve described it as an online salon, while one smartypants called it an electronic form of The View.
You can call it what you want after reading some of the posts so far.
Blogversation 2012: What’s your experience with ending friendships?
I love Jen’s line: Perhaps I should borrow a page from my romantic relationship breakup playbook. “We don’t bring out the best in each other.”
Blogversation 2012: What’s your favorite blog post?
Maria shared two posts — one being her first on Salon about losing her newspaper job, and this:
This other piece is kind of a funny one about living life with large breasts (http://open.salon.com/blog/maria_stuart/2009/06/25/my_breast_friends_im_sticking_with_them). It’s different from anything I had ever written at a newspaper — it’s got the word “tits” in it — and it’s also quite personal. I re-read it from time to time and smile.
Jen’s story about how she came to blog about her cat’s death was both sweet and funny:
Sometimes I have a bad day, plain and simple, where writing is the last thing from my mind. Like, for instance, when my beloved cat Mac Daddy passed away. I was bereft. When my mom suggested I write about it, I’m ashamed to say I screamed at her over the phone, saying “The last thing I want to do is fucking write about this. My grief isn’t material!”
Of course it was. Rather, blogging about it was therapy. And my dad, a man who is as stingy with his compliments as his money, told me it was, in his opinion, the best thing I’d ever written. I cherish the fact that I got to him, and I access that well of love and grief every time I reread the post. So here it is: Mac Daddy: A Love Story: http://jenniferworick.blogspot.com/2009/01/mac-daddy-love-story.html.
Blogversation 2012: What are you passionate about even though you’re not good at it?
Lauren’s blog post helped inspire me to ask this question, so not surprisingly, I loved her answer:
What does it mean to be good at something? It’s an interesting question. It’s based entirely on recognition from people outside of you, of your performance stacked against everyone else’s. Being good at something is competitive, comparative. You don’t have to be passionate about something to be good at it.
Amy followed:
Lauren, I like that you turned the question upside down. I think I “fail” at many of my “hobbies” because I judge myself. *If I ran faster or further, I’d consider myself a runner…If I could draw a person’s face and it would actually look like them I’d consider myself an artist.* I’m trying to switch my default of “I’m not ‘good’ enough” to really find joy in the things I love to do. Right now, that’s yoga and cooking.
Blogversation 2012: What did you learn in 2011 that you’re carrying forward?
Maria wrote a lovely, powerful response about getting laid off as a newspaper editor, which starts out:
The past year taught me how well I can live on so much less.
For years, I felt like I had to keep working at a decently paying, full-time job that revealed itself to be quite stressful – too stressful – once it was gone.
The reverberation through my household was huge when I lost that job and with it, nearly two-thirds of our income. How will we ever make it, I thought as I wrung my hands.
“You’ll be surprised at how little you really need,” a neighbor told me.
Amy wrote about recovering from her years as a selfish child, including:
It took asking for forgiveness from my family for the “sins” of my past and practicing the mental thought process that taking care of myself isn’t selfish for me to slowly see myself for who I am today and communicating that with my family. I am looking at a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my table that I bought for myself. A few years ago I would have seen that as a selfish act. Now, I see it as a simple $4 way to take care of myself and I’m thinking about who I am going to give them to before I leave town this weekend.
Eleanor offered the wise observation: There was an experience that taught me about timing and trust, about having faith in seeds that I’ve planted.
Blogversation 2012: How do you get ideas for blog posts?
Amy chimed in simply: I run. Went for one yesterday … must be why I feel so inspired today!
Blogversation 2012: Do you make New Year’s resolutions?
Lesley shared two resolutions she made and I especially loved how she framed the second:
My second resolution is to practice daily being the type of person that I’d like to meet. The first two weeks of this felt odd (and were a little comical) but its a way to project myself into the future. I’m intentional about this shift practicing for an hour or an entire day. Smiling more, writing daily, being on time, showing extra love to family and friends and spreading positive energy when things are icky are just a few of the things that this new evolving “Lesley Ware” does.
Kim’s answer made me laugh and made me think:
I don’t make them. Perhaps its because I have such a hard time in general with NY’s Eve. SO MUCH PRESSURE! OMG I can barely stand it. Maybe it’s because there is this feeling that every single person around you is having the most extraordinary time of their life that night! And that one day “if you are really lucky” you’ll get to finally have it too!
And that’s the way January starts. All these people determined to “do it differently!” And I feel so undisciplined next to them all! It feels daunting. And rigid. And military like in the way it lands – so I wait it out. Til it’s quiet and less popular.
And come the end of January I begin to ruminate on what “I want to create in this next year” for myself. I don’t call it Resolutions – as that sounds so serious. This way it’s filled with less expectation and more hope.
Eleanor gave a lengthy response about why she sets goals with help from like-minded friends:
Goal-setting and goal-getting is so much more enjoyable and energizing when done in the context of solid relationships with people who know you and want you to have all that is good in life. At this point in my journey, I wouldn’t do it any other way.
Blogversation 2012: How and why did you become a blogger?
Kim got real with how frustrating technology is to her:
Why do I blog? The first question I must ask is “Do I?” I feel as though I’m a “Hiccup” Blogger….I get hit once in a while so powerfully that I just HAVE TO. What stops me from doing it on a semi-regular basis? Technology. I’m not a dumb blond, I’ll have you know, but I have NO PATIENCE most of the time for some of the things that technologically happen to me when I try to blog. Like for instance adding video. What a bee-atch! In fact that’s how I wanted to answer this question. Via video. But I got stopped. And believe me what stopped me would bore you to tears. And that makes me feel like an incompetent boob and once that happens the inspiration drains out of me like a leaky faucet.
When the inspiration stops -then I’m DOA.
Eleanor let us peek behind the curtain, too:
For the two weeks that followed my launch of creativetimes.blogspot.com, I had the writer’s version of stage fright; I barely slept or ate and I walked around with heart palpitations. The idea of being that visible scared the bejeezus out of me.
Lesley posted about how her blog slowly evolved and helped her identify a new direction for her career:
Shifting into the Blogosphere has opened many doors. When my job was eliminated in 2010 I had “The Creative Cookie” to turn to — it’s been a lifesaver. Blogging has enabled me to hone in on my interests and craft my future.
