There are some inevitable things in life. Your black clothes will always be covered in cat fur by the time you get to work, despite the fact you brushed them clean before you left. It will always rain when you decide to hang your clothes out before going out for the day. And I will eventually grow out of my internet identity.
At the end of 2005, I became Katiefoolery. This was at a time before facebook had really taken off, when your username identified you more than your real name and “Katiefoolery” felt like me. It’s almost difficult to believe that we were still avoiding the use of our full names on the internet in 2005. Things change at a ridiculous pace on the interwebs, don’t they?
Seven years later, and it’s starting to feel as though Katiefoolery is no longer quite right for me. I am still fond of it, but it doesn’t exactly feel professional. Would I be taken seriously as a freelance writer with “katiefoolery” in my email address? Would I be happy sending editors to my katiefoolery.com website so they can sample my writing?
I’m not sure.
Compounding all of this internal debating is a blog post I read yesterday: Should a writer have a blog? The answer to which question is apparently: yes, no, maybe. Or, for the extended answer: if it works for you, do it; otherwise, don’t feel obliged to have a blog because you think you should.
My problem is that I think I should, because I enjoy writing in my blog, but I’m not sure it should be this one. On the other hand, I’m not sure any other blog would be that different, simply because it had a different name. Unless, of course, I put in to practice my plan of writing weekly blog posts. There are three reasons for this idea: weekly blog posts would give me a deadline, contain more attention to detail and give me more of a chance to hone my writing skills. That’s not to say I don’t put a great deal of time into writing blog posts now (especially the ones that contain photos), but if I approached each blog post as an article, it could benefit both reader and writer.
Maybe.
And this is where I am now – in a very confused place indeed. Do I change? Do I stay the same? Does it really matter?
It’s at this point that I realise I should ask for advice, particularly from those of you who have changed blogs or who might keep a blog or website as an online writing folio. Is it worth making the change to a less frivolous-sounding name? Is a weekly posting schedule a good idea? Or is all of this — as the Chef suspects — a novel form of procrastination? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
You have reached the blog of Katiefoolery: a writer, a photographer and a long term procrastinator. In this blog, you can expect to find ramblings about all manner of subjects, usually accompanied by photographs.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Got no advice whatsoever, but I wish you the best of luck in receiving advice from people cleverer than myself
Thanks! Maybe I’m over-thinking this, but it’s always good to seek feedback in times of doubt.
No! Shan’t! I love the name.
(Feel free to do as you will whatever that may be as you are your own person.)
GRRM calls his Not a blog and is on bloody live journal. He has his official website which covers everything else, but I don’t see why you can’t keep yours. Maybe couple it with your real name underneath if you must, but my brain goes to, don’t feel you have change because you have a worry about what other people might think. Change because you want to change, but the whimsy is you, the name is almost your name anyway, so what’s the problem if it’s the title of your blog, not nescessarily your name.
Not sure if I made sense there, or just sounded huffy.
I always seem to get caught up in matters that aren’t as important as I imagine they are! It’s entirely possible that all I need to do is change the design up a little and re-consider my posting schedule and I’d be just as happy. There’s just something so appealing about running off and starting somewhere new with shiny new furniture and coasters for all.
Meanwhile, I’ve just done a whole bunch of research for an article, so the Chef’s accusations of procrastination are mostly unfounded.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts – it helped very much (and didn’t sound huffy at all).
I had a comment forming in my head as I read this, then got to the last paragraph and thought, “Damn, Chef beat me to it.”
You’re fine like you are. Change things up if you want to, but it doesn’t have to be a big huge monumental something-or-other. What’s more important is your “real writing,” which isn’t to say that your blog posts aren’t good reading as well.
And to once again pass along Neil Gaiman’s advice (what can I say, I love the guy), did you see his commencement address last year? In it, he describes his goal of being a successful writer as a mountain, and he learned to only do things that moved him closer to the mountain and to avoid anything that moved him farther away. The entire speech is here if you want to watch (and hey, it’s an inspirational way to procrastinate):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI
I know, I know! I’m so predictable that way. Now I’m managing to procrastinate without even realising it.
That mountain analogy is just the sort of thing I need to keep in my mind right now, so thanks for sharing it. I’ll be watching that speech as soon as I get home (unless that’s another form of procrastination, of course).
I wouldn’t bother changing, I imagine if you change you’ll lose readers which obviously isn’t the end all be all, but isn’t very nice when you’ve worked hard to create this space. I also just don’t think it matters very much. What you write and how you write is far more important than the name by which you write by.
That’s all so true! The potential for being anonymous for a while was slightly appealing, but it would have meant my writing was without an audience, which is ever so counter-productive. I definitely need to focus on what’s important instead of being distracted by potentially shiny things.