Some Thoughts on Blogging

A few days ago, Steffy of the blog Steffys Pros and Cons posted yet another gorgeous outfit. Her striped crop top, vintage floral skirt, and sun hat were right in line with her spot on sense of fashion. It's what loyal readers, like myself, have come to expect from her blog over the years. What was not so typical about this post is that Steffy included some of her own thoughts regarding the world of blogging. I found them both interesting and thought provoking, and wanted to use her statement as a jumping off point for some of my own thoughts about blogging.

steffysprosandcons.blogspot.com

"this blog has done wonders for me, but sometimes i have to admit i quite dislike it (not you, but it). these pictures, this writing, this space-- it does not really capture even 1/30th of me. sure, i've tried to share snapshots of where i work, or where i walk to, or the meals that end up in my digestive tract, but none of that can portray how i FEEL. how i talk, how i laugh, how i think. i am a human being, just a human being with a camera taking pictures of all of the best moments in my life. it doesn't differentiate me from anybody else, really. anybody can have a blog, anybody can take photos on the day that they dress up, and anybody can create a "brand" for their life. my brand and me, we are two different monsters. sometimes i just hope that the world knows that." Steffy Kuncman - Steffy's Pros and Cons 

 What she so brilliantly articulated feels almost like a "duh" moment to me, but I realize I've felt that way about blogs I've read over the years in addition to blogs I've written. I feel like the blogging world can be as bad as media in the way that it holds those who choose to subscribe to its content to a certain standard that is never quite obtainable. We have begun to dismiss promotional ads in magazines as "photoshopped" and "fake" but aren't blogs supposed to be real? Aren't they supposed to represent real people in their real lives doing real things? 
Unfortunately, no. Like Steffy pointed out, anyone can post the best parts of their life on a blog, and anyone can misread the best parts of that person's life and take it as the whole of their life. This admission from Steffy is one of the few times I've seen a blogger acknowledge that the person so many readers seem to put on a pedestal isn't the same as the person who finds themselves in front of the camera week after week. As Steffy acknowledges in her bio, "i think the little things in life matter most, so i share my little things here."Steffy Kuncman - Steffy's Pros and Cons These parts of her life, these parts of my life are just that, parts. 
In her category, I believe that is a lot easier to make clear cut, to define boundaries. As a predominant fashion blogger, she has limitations over what she directly influences. For lifestyle bloggers such as myself, the boundaries are a bit more fuzzy. If this blog has a different feel to you, dear readers, that's because it should. I have started this blog three different times over the past two years and always found myself doing things to try to make the blog itself more interesting, things that were out of my normal routine and things I felt silly doing. I always intended this blog to be an "honesty project" of sorts. Since starting this blog on this platform, I have made sure to always remain true to myself. You'll never get the full picture of my life or any of the other bloggers lives, but just know that most of us are not super human. We still have to do laundry in order to wear the clothes you see us in, we still have to wash the dishes we cook our meals in, we still have to clean our apartment before we take pictures you see on our blogs, and we all have that one drawer in our home where we stick all of the things we have no idea where to put. 
Talk to you guys soon, 
Ali 

642 Things- Whittemore (actually) Writes!

This blog is titled Whittemore Writes not just because I believe it rolls off the tongue and I'm a fan of alliteration, but because it was originally meant to be a blog to showcase my writing! However, for the past eight months I haven't wanted to write at all. I always admired Flannery O'Connor because she would get up early every morning and sit at her typewriter for a set number of hours, or all day if she was on to something good. Writing is about habit, not inspiration as so many think, and I'm finding that to be more true every single day. I don't think my lack of writing had to do with a lack of inspiration. I find inspiration in even the smallest things: an off-handed comment, small notebooks, unexpectedly good conversations with friends, to name a few.

I was shopping with my girlfriend a few weeks ago when I picked up this book. 642 things to write about. 642 things. 642! That's a whole heck of a lot. My goal: to completely fill up this book, cover to cover, in a year. I'll be posting one or two things a week depending on length, and for the first time, really opening myself to critique. I'm apprehensive because I know the internet can be often times a mean place. However, I want to hear it all. Everything you've got to throw at me, I'm ready to hear it! If you think something sucks, tell me! But also, tell me why you think it sucks. Also understand I am very rusty as far as putting pen to paper, and hopefully these segments will improve over time. Without further ado, here is the first one!

Prompt: Write from this quote from Claude Levi-Strauss, "I am the place in which something has occurred."

My response: I am the place where this love happened. You touched the valley of my waist, kissed the basin of my collar bones, traversed my spine with your fingertips. You jumped ship after one night, you are climbing someone else's mountains. I am a place- my body a battleground of medication and my own corrupt chemistry. There is no "favorite" -money is not being exchanged on the sidelines. Soon my body will be memorialized with a plaque, dates and a name over useless earth. How does it feel to have razed a city, exploited an ecosystem, and carried on seeking your own ends? How does it feel to have had someone who drank your poison disguised as love, so you could exploit their resources?

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What do you guys think? What could I have done better? Differently? How would you have answered the prompt? Leave me comments!