We’re in the middle of our challenge. One thing I can say: herself has been much more personal in her writing than I have. Lately, she’s written some very personal things while I’ve been writing essays. I think she’s writing for herself, while I’m generally writing for some vague notion of an audience. That means she’s trying to expose something that her inner voice is trying to share, while I’m trying to write for a group of people that I can’t even identify. I’m not comfortable writing directly about myself so I try to tell some kind of story, and I want that story to be funny or thought-provoking or informative. She’s just been writing what’s on her mind, and I’m impressed by that, because it ends up being all three.
Acting is believable and compelling only when the actor connects with the emotions and motivations of the character. Writing is only worth reading when the writer is connecting with the essence of the theme. There’s a distinct possibility that my theme is to put up a blog entry every day for a month. Since there’s not yet a market for the blog-post-a-day calendar, the value of that theme is drawn into question.
Here’s my moment of truth for today: I often wonder how many people really could connect with me. I’m such a mash-up of neuroses and contradictions that even the best writing would still make me look like a cross between a Neal Stephenson and Woody Allen character, and lacking the good points of both at that. I’m trying too hard to act like a coherent version of myself rather than just being me.