Yes, I'm Trying to Impress You

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Rosie the Blogger
Image by Mike Licht via Creative Commons


Mariam, Carol, Kate, Tatiana, Traci, and the dozens of women who are a part of See Jane Write. These are some of the people I imagine are peeking over my shoulder each time I sit down to write a post for this blog.

Last month in a post for Independent Fashion Bloggers called Manfluence: A Single Girl’s Guide to Blogging, Taylor Davies called discussed how knowing her new love interest was reading her style blog forced her to improve the quality of her content. She said once her guy revealed that he’d visiting her site she made sure her posts were smart, funny, and well-edited.  

I confess that when I first read this post the feminist in me was ready to rant. And no, not because she was going ga-ga over a guy. We’ve all been there and there’s nothing wrong with trying to impress your man (or woman.) I was upset because it seemed that she was implying that when she thought only women were reading her posts there was no need to add humor, improve her vocabulary, or proofread. But upon second reading I realized I was overreacting.

Her point, as she later states, is that we should all blog to impress someone.

Many of us come to see our blogs as spaces where we are free to be ourselves and let our creative self-expression run wild. And while that’s a good thing on one hand, on the other hand we can be tempted to get too comfortable on our blogs and the quality of the content suffers as a result.

So, again, blog to impress someone. It doesn’t matter if it’s a spouse, a parent, a co-worker, or a crush, but write your blog posts with that person in mind. You may even want to write your posts as if potential literary agents, editors, or publishers are reading.

When people ask me what inspires me, it never takes long for me to answer. I am most inspired by creative women, creative women like the ones I named above. And it is my hope that I can somehow inspire them. And so with each blog post I’m striving to do just that.

11 comments:

  1. Awww. Thanks for including me on this and I agree with the advice. I know sometimes I can tend to get a little too comfortable. I needed this reminder. And yes, you do inspire me. In fact, you've inspired me so much lately that I'm gonna drop my fiction for a little bit and take up with creative nonfiction and do that memoir (just for myself, not to be published any time soon.) I think it will be great healing for my soul. I even set a realistic and manageable writing schedule and everything! LOL

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    1. I'm so proud of you for coming up with a writing schedule. Good luck with your project. And I really hope I get to meet you IRL at the end of the month.

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  2. You always inspire and impress me! I count you as a giant blessing and I'm so glad we met. Hoping to make it to your neck of the woods before too long. Love ya!

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    1. Thanks, girl. I am so happy we met. I hope we get to see each other again soon.

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  3. Awww, thanks, Javacia! There are many women I think about when I write or when I think about my writing goals, and you are among them. I like thinking about it as you've put it here, to impress someone, not compete with or compare yourself to others. I live hearing, "Congrats," or, "I'm proud of you," from my mentors. This post reminds me to step my game up.

    And love the pic, but Rosie needs some pumped up knuckles!

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    1. I second that--impress, not compete!

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    2. And I third that! I hate that society makes us believe there's not enough success to go around. We are stronger when we work together instead of against each other.

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  4. Aww, thank you Javacia! You know I've been a fan of your writing since before we even met, so this is a huge compliment for me.

    Having friends who are intelligent writers DEFINITELY affects the quality of my work. I think of you and "southern fried feminism" when I write about women; I think of Carla Jean W. whenever I proofread. I think if every writer I know when I'm not in the mood and want to dash out something lazy. It's the best pressure in the world!

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    1. Exactly! Don't you just love positive peer pressure?

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  5. As if it were even possible for me to be more impressed than I already was before I ever read a word of your writing...

    Having already filled the impressed reservoir, now I'm just continually awed and inspired by you

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    1. Traci, I'm the one awed and inspired by you. I'm so proud of you for creating such a great life for yourself in New York. And you work with MHP!!!

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