I’m processing (in my mast-cell-y & pain-brainy — that is to say, sluggish & goofy — way) a recent exchange with someone who seems to have the makings of an excellent friend. (Time will tell, but his taste is superb.)
Apparently, according to this one person (apart from my mother, bless her genuine enthusiasm, and my honorary sisters) I’m doing exactly what I hope to do here: bring info with a smile, share my passionate convictions about patient rights and the towering importance of communication and documentation, and shine a bearable light on the “job” of being a complex chronically ill person in this world.
Who knew?!?
I write when I get an itchy idea that takes hold and bosses me into diverting “up time” and “wrist time” to share it here. Devising and sharing some kind of success path in this impossible situation is what I decided (over a decade ago) to do, hoping and expecting myself to improve the voice and skills I bring to it (as you do), and hoping the whole thing would do some good outside my head. I work on the craft of it and try really hard never to give bad info, because bad info is… bad.
My readers are few and select (only the best here!)… but not chatty.
I get almost no feedback on my posts here. I’ve developed this blog largely in an echo-chamber. I’m not sure why. Naturally, I think there must be something wrong… and then, suddenly, this feedback. WTH?
I’ve wondered if my style is “just so”, and leaves no sense of something to add. If so, I need to change that. There’s so much more to share than just what I write here.
I’ve been called uppity — is that a genuine reflection of how I come across, or is it quietly internalized misogyny? — Because goodness knows we can’t let women know if they’re clever, funny, or competent 🤣🤣🤣 ..
I’m also blowing my own mind over realizing that I’m insecure enough that it matters very much what good people think of this, but I’m not something enough to ask. In a way, it’s simply work, but I have no supervisor. I don’t know what to do with that. (My ’tism is showing.)
Of course I’m a competent craftsman, because I’ve been working on writing vividly for over 50 years and writing usefully for 35, so it would be plain by now if I were incompetent. You can’t work on a skill for that long without knowing if you’re wasting your time.
That said, it still completely knocks me over when someone says, “Hey, that’s really good!” Bonus points for adding, “and here’s why…”
I’d be just as delighted (in the long run) with, “Hey, you got this fact wrong”, or, “you missed some nuance on this other thing”. Self-critique gets old.
We all know about the might of algorithms and how they drive traffic. Comments and sharing boost reach, which feeds the algorithm, which boosts reach, and so on. Should good info be shared?
Anyway… feel free to comment and share. Let me know what you think, because this is all for my marvelous readers as much as it is to scratch these itchy ideas I get.