Most kids I know like some type of candy. As a child raised in a poor family, I
cherished holidays like Halloween and Easter where there was always that
guaranteed token of chocolate to help celebrate the holidays. But there never seemed to be enough
chocolate for me growing up. Being
a true chocoholic, when I got older I decided one day to indulge to my heart’s
content in the silky smooth goodness of a rather large bag of plain
M&M’s. I wanted to indulge in
my chocolate fantasy, but of course things didn’t turn out as I had
imagined. Instead of spending the
good part of the day on some kind of sensually smooth caffeine high, I got
rather sick from the excessive sugar.
Definitely a case of a good thing really not being that good for me.
This past weekend I got to thinking about things like
writing and blogging and social media and that’s when it occurred to me that
sometimes what appears to be a good thing ends up doing more harm than
good. As anyone who knows me can
tell you, I like to write. I LOVE
to blog. And I participate in many
online communities where I learn something new every day to help me become a
stronger writer. I also like
sharing exciting news happening in my world and keeping up to date with all the
other news happening in my friends’ worlds. But once that cheering and celebrating and interacting
starts to overwhelm people, then I know what I originally thought was a good
thing may not be after all.
I found out this weekend my online posts might be alienating
some of my friends as my happy news loads up their inbox with repetitious
comments. I understand what that
feels like as I navigate through an average of 200 or more emails a day myself
so it truly bothers me to know my posts made it necessary for some of my
readers to abandon following me.
Sometimes a seemingly good thing really isn’t.
I’m grateful for the people who cared enough to let me know
what was going on. It took no
small amount of courage to tell me why they decided to disconnect with me and I
will be forever grateful for their honesty. Living in this fast paced world we find ourselves in helps
determine how much time we can devote to being online and who really wants to
feel like they got caught up in some wacky version of Bill Murray’s Groundhog
Day?
So don’t start wondering what happened to me when you no
longer see many online posts from me any more. It’s not that I’m no longer having fun, it’s just that I
don’t want to give anyone a headache from too much of a good thing. Besides, you can always visit me here
or join my personal Facebook page to hear the latest news about me…;~)
Hi Donna .. I only subscribe to blogs via the RSS reader - about two years ago I had had too much of the emailed comments ... so just unsubscribed from email comments ... if I want to check I keep the post open in my Reader and double check that way ...
ReplyDeleteI get my own blog's comments from everyone coming through .... and other emails -
There's always a lot going on in the social internet world ... I hope you don't lose too many blogging friends ... cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary! I didn't realize it was an issue until it was brought to my attention and then it saddened me to realize I was bothering people with my emails. Oh well, we all live and learn...;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!
Everyone sees the chive on your teeth, but no one wants to tell you it's there. If I had a clue, I would have told you. After I stopped laughing at you, that is.
ReplyDeleteLol, I know you would have told me, Janet...I just wonder how long you would have been laughing first? ;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!
Never too much of a good thing for me!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Genevieve, for your kind words. I'm going to go with a low profile for the time being so I'm glad you are following me here...;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!
Ditto what Genevievepetrillo said, and I love chocolate :)
ReplyDeleteHi Diane! What would I do without the cheering section of you two lovely ladies? ;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!
This reminded me of my own childhood as do many of the analogies you make.
ReplyDelete'....Thankfully there wasn't a lot of money about so it wasn't often the boys engaged in activities that needed it. Joel hated it when the ice cream van came round. All the kids would excitedly run to their homes to beg money off their parents, then queue at the van while Joel sat on the kerb poking the drain with a stick. Ashley would hover around and scrounge a lick off one or two of the boys but Joel felt too embarrassed to ask, making up a story he didn't like ice cream....'
'....The boys learnt many valuable lessons at eleven years old that most other youngsters seem unable to grasp. There was a sense of satisfaction and pride spending hard-earned cash that isn't felt when spending hand-outs. The boys felt ten feet tall when entering a shop with their own money they had worked for. The sweets Joel had craved for so long were ignored, no longer considered a necessary purchase now he could actually afford them. His parents 'unreasonable' words were beginning to make sense. In the main the boys understood the value of money. It was hard to come by and not to be wasted frivolously. It didn't mean they were reluctant to spend it, just more selective how....'
I checked on the postal system to the USA and it takes up to a week for a 2kg parcel. I hope to send you two hardbacks, six paperbacks, and some e-book stubs (dependant on size and weight). There has been an issue with the cover which may put things back a week or son but I am confident you will receive these early in April (in time for the reading festival).
I am now posting extracts from the sequel due for publication in December then I can retire gracefully. The journey cannot strictly be described as fun so reading your blog with all the encouragement and advice certainly helped. Thank you.
Hi JP! For some reason I still can't get prompts from your blog letting me know you have posted something new so I simply check every day. I saw you were posting extracts from the sequel but I'm hesitant to read it until I get a chance to finish reading the first one...don't want to catch any spoilers...;~)
DeleteI think there are many aspects of both of our lives which were similiar...enough for us to be kindred spirits in this writing world. And as far as retiring goes...I don't think Janet will LET you...nor will I...we are two of your biggest fans and what would we do without your wit and charm to grace the pages of the blogsphere? Lol...
I am glad we made this connection and will hopefully have many more posting moments to come...
Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!
Wit, charm, and grace?? Are we still talking jp here?
DeleteThe books are separate entities so there aren't really any spoilers. The second book is just what happened twenty years later when I had kids of my own. The focal point is the area we moved to and the lives of people there whose problems made mine look insignificant.
As for retiring I like to laugh and once I have these two off my chest I might try to write about some of the funny things that happened inbetween but in all honesty I've never considered myself a writer. I can usually hold people's attention when telling stories from my past but writing it all down is more difficult than I ever imagined. It is fine blogging because it is often whimsical and typos or grammatical errors are no great shakes.
I do admire those I have met in blogosphere for their enthusiasm and determination and have a new respect for authors. It never occurred to me how emotionally draining writing could be. In my ignorance I thought it just a case of stringing a few sentences together.
On another note I have a years free subscription to the authorlearningcentre to give away and wondered if you might like it.
Hi JP! I apologize for the delay in being able to reply to your comment....I've been having terrible trouble with my internet and discovered last night my modem had died. Now I wait for a replacement one to wing it's way to me and in the meantime I hop on at work with I can sneak in a few minutes. In answer to your question aobut the free subscription to the authorlearningcenter...I'm not exactly sure what that is. Can you give more details? And how kind of you to think of me!
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!
What a meaningful post (and another great analogy/story!) :D
ReplyDeleteSorry, Erik, for taking so long to answer...my internet modem died on me over the weekend and I haven't gotten the replacement on yet (supposed to be here today) so I have a lot of catching up to do...;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!