An Epiphany

Writing a blog is a tricky thing, and starting a blog even more so. This isn't the first blog that I've started but I'm hoping that it will be the last.

Whenever taking my first cautious steps onto the slippery ice rink that is the blogging world I inevitably find myself looking around at other well established bloggers for guidance as to what I should be doing. This only serves to highlight the enormous gulf between them and little ol' me, in terms of content, readership, quality of photos, blog design, etc, which means that I end up in a frozen state of indecision as to where to start and wondering how I will ever climb the towering pile of Things To Be Achieved to make my blog successful. Chief amongst these things are selecting a theme for the blog and promoting it out there. The idea of the whole of the Internet peering in makes me want to drop the whole thing and retreat into a good book. Yes I realise how self absorbed and silly that sounds, but no matter how rational I tell myself to be, I cannot help but feel that the whole of the Internet is watching and reading anything I put out into the ether.

Anyway, I have so far never made it past a few months of blogging, convinced that either I don't write well, or that I haven't found the right theme, the right look, the right whatever, and must wait for the Muse to visit me with said missing idea before I can resume.

This blog was well on its way to becoming yet another prematurely aborted effort when I had an epiphany. It was late at night (which seems to be the preferred time for epiphanies to come grace us with their presence - they are clearly nocturnal creatures), a couple of weeks before Christmas. I can't remember why I couldn't sleep but there in the dark I realised the following life changing truth: no one is reading this blog. I was so excited at this revelation I didn't manage to get to sleep for a good hour or so.

Allow me to elaborate.

This is of course an obvious statement since there is nothing to read. For now. But soon I hope there will be a few more posts to keep these two company. However since I have no intention of promoting this blog, no one will know that it is here and therefore no one will come by to read it. To begin with, making this decision removes readership as a benchmark for success and that is freeing in itself. But more than that, realising that no one is reading means that there are no expectations other than my own. No need to follow any particular path other than the one I choose.

With no one reading this blog, it exists only for me and I can do exactly what I want with it without any  repercussions or judgement. I'm sure this is obvious to most people but I've only just arrived at this conclusion. Sometimes the most obvious things are the hardest ones to understand I guess.

That said, we always write for a reader, but this will be a reader of my imagining, my perfect audience. A reader equally enthralled by the list of books that I am reading / have read, as by the random facts and quotes I pick up, as by the occasional cat photo and anything else I decide to stick in. Yes there will be cat photos. Not right away but since I'm determined to become a better photographer and to take photos more regularly there will no doubt be cat photos amongst the bunch. And who doesn't like to look at adorable cats anyway.

So, dear non reader (as I now think of you) welcome again to my little corner of the internet. Yes I know I'm repeating the post from below, but it's a couple of months old now, and one can never be too welcoming. Especially with one's imaginary ideal audience.