Too much of a good thing
So I'm back to the state of life when I thought, "I don't have time to write my own blog; it takes all the free time I have just to read and comment on other people's blogs."
Two that have captured my attention in recent days:
Gregg's Gambles: a series of posts on his encounter(s) with the emergent church movement
Of the Best Stuff, but Plain: Amanda on Halloween, plain dress and the love of God
I would love to have long conversations with both of them, but I am reduced to quick emailed comments which, at best, fail to express the full range of my emotions and experience on these topics and, at worst, I could end up offending them with a thoughtless or poorly worded phrase. (I've done it before.)
How much time do you spend reading and writing Quaker blogs? Not counting strictly political or humorous ones?
Two that have captured my attention in recent days:
Gregg's Gambles: a series of posts on his encounter(s) with the emergent church movement
Of the Best Stuff, but Plain: Amanda on Halloween, plain dress and the love of God
I would love to have long conversations with both of them, but I am reduced to quick emailed comments which, at best, fail to express the full range of my emotions and experience on these topics and, at worst, I could end up offending them with a thoughtless or poorly worded phrase. (I've done it before.)
How much time do you spend reading and writing Quaker blogs? Not counting strictly political or humorous ones?
Labels: blogstuff
posted by Robin M. at 1:15 AM
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10 Comments:
Hey Robin!
I've been feeling the same way lately. With so many new blogs, I find it even harder to "keep up." In fact, I'm rushing off right now to get ready to go to meeting. Every now and then I get the feeling that maybe a few of us should go in on one blog together. I haven't thought it through enough... - Rob
And I can't even keep up with the comments! :)
Thanks, Robin. Someday, we'll get that chance for a long face to face conversation. I hope!
I have *too* many blogs I want to read - sometimes it gets me away from living life that's right in front of me: not so good. And many times commenting is so much easier than writing my own post: other folks have done the "hard" work, and anything I add is just frosting. But sadly I can't live on just frosting (oh I wish, but the crash would be bad).
You *should* come up and have long conversations with Gregg! Cause then I could come along and go, "yeah! what they said!" :)
Why don't political ones count? (This is asked tongue-in-cheek, because I keep starting to write entries that are not supposed to be political, but ... I ... can't ... stop ... myself. Lies! Injustice!! Misappropriation of religious language!!!)
Mostly I read other Quakers just to get my whimsy back. Most of you are far better than I am about expressing something of the fabric of your daily lives.
Honestly, I am a joyful person. I'm actually one of the happiest people I know. But there is an editorialist hidden in me, and this medium lets me get it out of my system. True, I have kept a diary for 38 years, but the idea of posting things in PUBLIC makes me exercise a bit of self-discipline in choosing and testing my bloggy leadings.
I probably spend an average of 45 minutes a day reading or writing blogs. Most mornings I start the workday by checking my rss feeds, both news-related and blogs. Since I'm a writer, I excuse it as a way to warm up my linguistic synapses.
My local public library has a newspaper clipping pasted to the front window about how reading email kills brain cells faster than drinking alcohol.
Gregg and Aj, don't tempt me. Actually, I probably will have to come to Portland some time in the next three months for work. If and when I do, I will try to stay over long enough to meet you (and Johan?). What time is meeting for worship (or whatever you call it) at NFC?
Maybe it would be easier for me to answer with how much time I spend not reading blogs. Ahem. No actually, I'm pretty good. I use Bloglines.com to skim a lot of blogs quickly. Maybe a dozen posts will attract my eye over a day. I also multi-task: right now I'm holding 2-month old Francis in a sling, watching two-year old Theo arrange cars on the windowsill and keeping a lookout for trick-or-treaters.
I'd love to have more chances at face-to-face visits. Next summer's FGC Gathering is near Tacoma and there's a lot of interest among a small subset of us liberal Quakes to use the trip as an excuse to make some connections with Northwest Yearly Meeting. As all the cross-posting is showing, the denominational divides aren't nearly as clean-cut or absolute as some would have you believe.
Martin
Hello Robin
I read as much as I write. So if I spend about a half-hour reading blogs, I'll spend about a half-hour writing my own.
Obviously, it doesn't happen every day!!!
OOOOOHHH! Do try to come see us, if you're here on business. Worship is at 8:15, 9:45, and 11:15. But even better would be AJ and I coming to Portland and meeting you for coffee or lunch.
... and Reedwood Friends Church is at 9:30, with Spanish-language meeting for worship Sundays at 3. (But Judy and I attend the Spanish-language Mennonite services at the OLD First Friends meetinghouse, now Portland Mennonite Church, at 2:15.)
Coffee? Tell me when and where.
Johan
I agree, it is hard to keep up with everything. I feel bad adding to the list with my own blog :)
I hope to do my part of keeping the Quaker blogosphere manageable by trying to keep the post quality up and the quantity down.
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