This month's LOL prompt:
Tell me if you’re writer. Is it important to you? What got you started writing? Do you think you’ll be writing in 5, 10 or 20 years? What does that mean to you? Who do you think will be reading it all then?
My answer to the first question is: yes, even though I do not accept payment or product placement freebies by choice. I'm a proud amateur blogger. I don't have to be professional in order to feel comfortable saying that I am a writer.
I discovered blogging in 2002. Back then, there was online journaling and much discussion about whether or not blogging was real writing. Now, we have tumblr and that's even less real writing? I have never been able to discern the difference between online journaling and blogging. My favorite writers let their entries be as short or as long as they need to be, whenever the subject calls for it.
I started my blog in 2003. My mom used to say I was the luckiest girl ever, so that's how my nickname became Luckystott. Thus, I called my first blog Luckystott. It was all about auditioning in New York City. My family was vaguely supportive of my career, but it would rub me wrong whenever any of them would say, "Have you been on Broadway yet?" as if that was a measure of whether or not I was good enough to be living an artist's life. (oh, the pressure!)
My mom said:
"Oh, Erin, they just don't know. Broadway is the only thing they connect with when they hear N-Y-C. You should tell them. They'll never know unless you tell them!"
So, I decided to write about my life and what I was doing as a performer, day in and day out. My grandma Elberta became a real champion - she loved hearing about my life and was so encouraging. I still write with my grandma in mind.
That was Luckystott, 2003 - 2006
The second generation of my blog happened after I got married. I got the amazing chance to quit my day job and pursued acting full time. No more hustling for temp jobs in between gigs! I called that version of my blog Luckybwaygirl, since I changed my name when I married. I was no longer a Luckystott. I was a new woman with a new last name and the means to fully pursue a dream.
That was Luckybwaygirl, 2007 - 2009
The third generation of my blog is the one I am writing now. I discovered during my Luckybwaygirl years that I did not want to pursue acting full time, after all. Rather, I found that I desire a fuller approach to working specifically in theater. I'm as happy behind the scenes and I am on stage and I like to bounce between both disciplines. Ironically, the more I release my idea of being a star on Broadway, the more opportunities to perform in NYC have opened up for me. This is how I became Pursued by a Bear (a randomly funny stage direction I borrowed from Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale")
I do feel pursued by this bear of show business. I've tried to be a "regular" person (a concept Fred laughs at whenever I mention it) and I can't do it. A chance to get involved in a theater project always pops up and I go,"Okay! Just one more lil' show and then I'll think about starting a family"
(not sure if I can do both at the same time right now, to be realistic with you...)
Who knows? Maybe I will end up on Broadway someday, after all. However, for right now, I can take it or leave it. I just want to be with the work that is in front of me.
This is Pursued by a Bear, 2009 - present.
So what's in store for me in the future? I don't know. Will I continue to blog? Oh, yes. I think I will so long as I have some family that's interested in reading. I've expanded my idea of family to the roughly 40 - 60 people who regularly check in on the site. Some have become very dear to me.
This is a reasonable size of an audience for me. I don't desire to be a blog star. I'm just telling my friends about the interesting things that happen in my city or in my travels, my thoughts about art, or funny anecdotes about my life with Fred, etc. I write with my family in mind and anybody who stumbles in and wants to be a part of that in a positive way is totally welcome to join us.
I don't receive bad comments, generally, but I have deleted the random few that I have received because - hello - my grandma is a fan of this blog and she would be upset by reading something in the comments that was written hatefully. I wouldn't monitor my comments if I was a professionally blogger - ya know, free country and all - but I'm not a pro. I don't get paid for this. Therefore, I decide what stays up on the site.
I also allow myself the permission to amend entries even though they've already been published. My blog, my work in progress.
I try to stick to a M/W/F posting schedule, but I don't get upset if I miss a day here or there (or go off schedule) because this is my hobby.
I read a ton of blogs - some are blog stars and some are just really good writers who prefer to keep a lower profile. My interest vary greatly. Lately, I have added a few - ugh - mommy blogs to the mix. I'm not in love with the phrase "mommy blog" but it is what it is: moms with blogs. I am particularly drawn to women who are in their last trimester of pregnancy. I am scared of giving birth. I guess I am "practicing" by gleening any and all information I can get before I go thru childbirth myself, if I am lucky and able to in the future.
I also follow a few moms with young children because I am trying to discover for myself how much of that part of my life I will want to write about, should it come to pass. I really like working in theater and defining myself as a business woman. I am ...concerned...that all-baby-all-the-time will take over my life. I confess that I follow other writers as they transition from double-income-no-kids to mommy-blogger because it almost always happens - the kids take over and it almost always becomes entries about poop and piddles and "gosh I'm tired" and "yay I brushed my teeth today!"
I get it, but I often really miss the "Before Kid" writer when that happens.
Do I want that? I don't know. I mean, I have opinions about it right now as a woman who doesn't have kids (Yes, (s)he's adorable, but I don't need to see that log of poop in the porta-potty.) I have no idea how I will feel when/if it happens. It's my hope that my kids won't take over my life. (...cue the chorus of moms reading this right now as they laugh hysterically.)
Last thing - I'm pretty much all about the present. I don't keep the archives "live" for more than a year or two going back. I don't believe you can access the first two generations of my blog anymore, unless if you are a super computer smarty, I suppose. I don't post them on my current site. I don't read them or even know how to GET to them anymore. So, whoever is reading my blog in the future will be reading in "real time" -- It's not my intention to leave a legacy of writing behind me.
Thanks for stopping by today and reading about my thoughts. Care to tell me about your process? Please leave a link in the comments (or just comment!)
