There are different kinds of bloggers. I’m of the Personal Blogger Variety: I blog about life, about my thoughts and fears, about my experiences. I blog about me. (Lucky you.) Except that there hasn’t been too much of me-blogging lately. I can’t seem to find my inspiration. Maybe it’s one of the things I forgot to pack…
I used to blog a lot. Some might even say prolifically: I blogged daily and sometimes even more than that. And that is when I lived in Virginia, land of rural countryside with miles and miles of nothing to do. But the thing is, my mind was full. I had more time to think, then… with nothing to occupy my time, I had the luxury (or curse?) of empty hours to ruminate about life.
I don’t know if I’d say I was unhappy in Virginia. I had people who loved me, a good job, and a house with a beautiful view. But I wasn’t happy, really. I wanted more, I craved more. Like a teenager with over-protective parents, I felt trapped. And angsty. And apparently, angst makes Erin creative.
I thought I’d have a million things to write about. And indeed I do: a new country, a new city, new foods, new friends, new everything. A new life. I just can’t seem to get myself to write about them. Because I’m happy. I’m satisfied. I am complaint-free.
Which brings me to my point: if you take a jaunt around the blogosphere, you’ll find that many — if not most — personal bloggers write most when they’re dissatisfied about something. We write about things that piss us off, things that scare us, and when we have something to complain about. When we’re happy and comfortable and satisfied, we write less. Or we don’t write at all.
So what do we do to escape from our funk? Well, we could write about our writer’s block, make excuses about why we’re too busy to blog, or whine about the search for our lost muse. Or we can just shut our mouths, not blog for months, and eventually return as if nothing had happened.
I’m not sure what to do. I love to write. I love to blog. I love to share and discover common experiences between myself and my readers (yeah, that’s you. so get commenting!). But I have nothing to say. Or nothing that I think you’ll care to read. Because I just so damn satisfied at the minute. And, let’s face it, happiness isn’t interesting. Happy stories don’t sell newspapers and won’t get you to turn on the news. Likewise, gushing about how deliriously satisfied I am with life won’t get you to read this blog. So I’m stuck. We’re at an impasse.
So that’s about it. I have no solution, no brilliant conclusion to make. I suppose this is just another one of those “sorry I’m not blogging” posts. Because I am sorry. For you and for me. As I said, I find great pleasure in blogging and I miss it. But you can’t force the creativity. If the lemon is dry, there’s no use in squeezing it. And that’s enough with the metaphor, I think. I’m out. Peace, y’all.
so happy for your happiness, erin! maybe an entry down the road on a handful of things that make you smile in your new geography would brighten our day, helping us locate similar spaces to dance and enjoy as well as you do. rock on!
Erin and I were talking about this post… and well here I have some of my conclusions:
1) you are having a great and intimate time here and maybe you just want to keep these nice things to yourself
2) Now it is different, like you used to come home after work then write or spend the weekend alone… now you dont come home after work, you are already there… and you are spending most of your time with friends… so maybe you just need time to get used to that or wait for awhile to get a little bit of time with yourself
hmmmm, you are not posting because you are fighting with WP 2.1
Your categories have disapeared.
I´ll wait till WP 2.1.1 arrives.
“personal bloggers write most when they’re dissatisfied about something. We write about things that piss us off, things that scare us, and when we have something to complain about.”
Hi Erin: well if that statement proves to be true then don’t worry, soon enough you will find a lot of inspiration and be out of the writers block.
As time goes by and you get to know Costa Rica you will find a lot of things to complain about and piss you off. Especially when you have to deal with the bureaucracy of this country. Believe me, I know. As a Costa Rican I’ve had to deal with it first-hand.
Take care!
Hi Erin:
Just wanted to let you know that over a week ago I sent you the e-mail regarding the possibility of arranging a meeting of english-writing bloggers in Costa Rica. I want to know if you received it or not because I heard back from you. I will send you another email with my cel. phone number included.
After all, if you can’t get inspired enough to write blogs you probably won’t find inspiration to write e-mails to your fellow bloggers, however, I hope you inspired enough to dial a phone number LOL.
P.S: I meant I never heard from you, and that I hope you do get inspired enough to dial a phone number. Sorry for the typos.
Pura vida!
Yo creo Erin, que la insatisfacción natural del ser humano es la genial razón por la cual también progresamos. Siempre estaremos en la persecución del bienestar, jamás estaremos satisfechos, nunca llegaremos al bienestar definitivo.
Por eso, pienso que hablar de los problemas no está mal. De hecho es un des-estresante, porque al fin -al menos en el campo de los blogs- tenemos voz y opinión. Hasta puede que sea el camino para ponernos toda la humanidad de acuerdo.
El punto es que comunicarse siempre va a estar bien. Y aunque tal vez no siempre se tenga la inspiración, siempre, con cada post, se agrega unos granitos más al gran proyecto humano, la conquista del conocimiento.
Tal vez explorando otros temas tengas un poco más de imaginación. A mí me da inspiración los programas científicos de televisión, como History Channel, o NatGeo, o Animal Planet.
Saludos y que tu inspiración vuelva.
Oye! I used to write poetry, but then i started to travel and make friends and be happy…No longer can I write as well. I agree that angst feels necessary for expression, but I also think that feeling that may be amplified by angst is actually just an easy way out. Its easy to write about how miserable you are and how you dream of another life. Its easy to pour out your soul when you have no other outlets. But hey, now you’ve got yet another challenge. (like having to figure out complex conversations in spanish isn’t enough). I have 15 mosquito bites on one hand. wow
Thanks for the link in your post, Erin.
I’ve been blogging since the 90’s and making a decade-long archive of “Sorry, here’s my Top 10 Reasons Why I Didn’t Blog” posts isn’t my goal — mainly because I’m not sorry, haha.
My days are packed (like most people, I assume) and I don’t like to make my writing an afterthought. Add in the fact that I’m a slow writer to begin with — because I feel the need to hack away at every word — and you have the recipe for some slow-ass blogs.
Yeah, I see you.
I’m going to let that one slide, buddy.