4 years of not-so-first thoughts

Today marks the beginning of my 5th year of blogging. Have I only been doing this for 4 years? Seems like longer...

My sister and I once saw Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post) guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to pimp the book, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging, and in the interview she shared some tips on blogging. They were actually some sound tips, but one thing she said that got me and Hanks laughing was, "First thought, best thought. Don't overthink it, don't overwrite." "You don't follow that," Hanks had ribbed me, and thereafter every time she would see me laboring over a blog post or editing an entry for the nth time, she'd razz me about breaking the rules of blogging.

I take a lot of pride in my writing, which I consider the only real talent I have, so the idea of putting out a poorly composed blog entry is completely unacceptable to me. So I carefully reread and revise several times before (and sometimes after) clicking the "PUBLISH POST" button. I admit this meticulousness sometimes robs a post of its spontaneity or "freshness", but I'd like to think that for the most part, my anal tendencies pay off and I still manage to come up with pieces that are interesting or amusing enough to keep my 4 or 5 faithful readers adequately entertained (thanks, fans!). More importantly, in everything I write, I try to preserve my "voice", that signature Ailee style with which my bloghounds have come to identify me. A friend recently told me that reading my blog is like hearing me talk to him in person, which is one of the best compliments I receive about my writing. I hope he's not alone in recognizing my "voice" in the pages of my blog.

I may violate the "don't overthink, don't overwrite" rule, but at least I stay true to Huffington's first rule of blogging: "Write about your passions." I always blog about things I feel strongly about, whether it's a controversial current event, or a really good (or really bad) movie or book, or teaching (and my students), or my family and friends. Not all my chosen topics are very popular, but I believe my passion about them shows through my writing. After all, writing IS one of my passions too.

I don't claim to be an outstanding blogger, and there are a lot of truly great bloggers out there who give me severe writer's envy, but I am pretty proud of my blog in as far as it is representative of me, my ideas, opinions, principles, and feelings. AND my penchant for overthinking and overwriting. :)

Happy Birthday blog. I promise I will take care of you for many more years to come.