Head Tale

Another reason
I'm suspect about the majority of blogs out there, is that many of them
tend to be little more than exercises in ego.  Don't get me wrong
– I've got as healthy of an ego as anyone (maybe healthier ). 
But again, is it big enough to think that my random ramblings are
important enough to take the time of anyone who may be out there (let
alone, to take additional time out of my already busy days to post
them?) 

This got me thinking about the ego of the writer.  I worked for
the Writers Guild of Alberta for three years and encountered a lot of
writers at various stages of their careers, writing in all genres with
varying levels of success.  One thing I always found interesting
was the writer who would say “I don't think/care about awards.”  I
always thought to myself that if a writer doesn't have the creativity
to at least imagine their speech on the podium at the Awards Gala,
they're probably not a very good writer.  Not to mention that
awards usually are a recognition by a jury of your peers that your work
is some of the best produced in that year.  So unless you've only
writing for yourself and not trying to reach anyone else (a perfectly
valid reason to write), you probably should at least admit to caring
about awards.  I don't know – maybe it's a “modest Canadians”
thing?  Obviously we all have egos but perhaps it's embarrassing
to admit you want people to actually like and buy and recognize your
writing.  Or your blog. 


Which gets back to my original point.  That's why the best blogs are about something –
the writer's favourite TV show, a certain brand of electronics,
happening in a particular city or whatever.  Otherwise, a
completely random blog is only really about one thing – you. 
Which (again) is a perfectly valid reason to have a blog if you don't
want to reach anyone else (outside a narrow band of your family and
friends.)  But if you want your blog to add something to the world
in a larger sense, having some sort of theme is probably a good idea.

So far, this blog is much closer
to the first type than the second (Happy Birthday mom, by the
way!)  But it's early and we'll see
how it develops.  Even the current title (“Yet Another Library
Student's Blog”) hints at where I might go with this. Or I could try
and write a bit about the Canadian book industry in the larger sense as
I've been involved in so many aspects of it – book publishing, awards
programs, non-profit literary organizations and now libraries.

Oh, one more point on the writer's ego thing.  I don't have it in
front of me but there was a book published a few years ago by the Banff
Centre Press called First Chapter: The Canadian Writers Photography Project. 
The book featured portraits of various writers along with their
responses to one of two questions (something like “Why do you write?”
or “What would you tell your younger self now?”)  Someone pointed
out to me that there appeared to be an inverse relationship – the more
famous and successful a writer was, the shorter their answer to these
questions were.  I always thought that was revealing.

Classmate of the Day: Marni Harrington is hosting a “drinks & munchies” party tonight which will be fun.