personal audience

Dr. Rogers beat me to the quick. This response is for last Wednesday October 10.

Well I understood that other people would be reading my blogs, but I did not want to think about that. I always write from personal experience or personal beliefs-doesn’t everyone? I mean I do not think that a writer can completely take himself out of the writing since the writer is doing the writing; he is writing from his own opinions gathered and will focus on what he thinks is important. Therefore, I always write down my feelings or opinions for someone to read and probably judge, but that is scary. No one wants their personal emotions or beliefs to be put down by anyone, so people then become scared of writing down their thoughts. Even though the teacher does not grade on the opinion but more how the opinion is stated and supported, a bad grade can discourage the writer from expressing his true opinions in writing again.

With that said, I think that any writing is going to be personal to some degree, and I do not like the idea of getting so personal on the wide open net. I am not saying that I am naive to the fact that anyone can read what I write, but I am pretending that no one else will read this except for me. I do not expect any grades on my blogs, so I do not even act like my teachers read this. I simply write for me. Well, not simply for me. But I do write to a version of me. I write down how I think about these prompts for the future me to read. I know that I will actually not go back to read these entries, but I simply pretend that I am writing for me as if keeping a diary. I fictionalize this safe audience as a defense mechanism. This helps to keep me safe while still accomplishing the required task. Safe from what? Well, I want to be safe from criticism while still being able to express a part of me that most people will never see. Writing is a safe outlet because the writer can imagine that no one will ever see the writing.

Maybe if all writers can get this same idea, they will not be so afraid of how their writing is. Many of the problems in the papers will automatically be corrected if the writer does not remain so concerned with what the audience will think. If the writers fictionalize a safe non-judgmental audience, they will write very well indeed.

However, there still is a problem. The writer really knows that someone else will read the blog. It is hard to completely block that truth from the mind. So, writers must learn to let go of the real audience while writing, and then let go of the writing for others to read. Turning in a paper or publishing an entry is the final act of realizing that this paper is no longer for that fictional audience, but here we go…