Aug 23, 2014 / Inspiration

“If this is a deterioration in my brain, then more, please.”

Wise words from Andrew Sullivan on the rewards and challenges of blogging.

Blogging hasn’t been around for that long, historically speaking, but it’s already transformed the way writers seek and find their audience and become members of larger communities.

Here’s Andrew Sullivan, one of the blogosphere’s earliest — and most successful — citizens, weighing in (back in 2010) on writing, interaction, and striking a balance between different modes of expression:

I’m a writer by profession and it’s totally clear to me that since I started blogging, the amount I write has increased exponentially, my daily interactions with the views of others have never been so frequent, the diversity of voices I engage with is far higher than in the pre-Internet age — and all this has helped me become more modest as a thinker, more open to error, less fixated on what I do know, and more respectful of what I don’t. If this is a deterioration in my brain, then more, please.

The problem is finding the space and time when this engagement stops, and calm, quiet, thinking and reading of longer-form arguments, novels, essays can begin. Worse, this also needs time for the mind to transition out of an instant gratification mode to a more long-term, thoughtful calm. I find this takes at least a day of detox. Getting weekends back has helped. But if there were a way to channel the amazing insights of blogging into the longer, calmer modes of thinking… we’d be getting somewhere.

I’m working on it.

Andrew Sullivan, “Collecting Our Thoughts“

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  1. I am a blogger but I still like to send personal cards by mail rather than email. It seems more personal and let’s the person know I care enough to pick out a special card for them.

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  2. this is definitely true! I cannot deny it. My blog posts started with 1K words and now have reduced to 400. The urge of getting them out was great but the thoughts behind may need more brewing sometimes. 🙂

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  4. I adore you! Been active for just a couple of days but your posts inspire me a lot. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Lovely, well said. I’ve had a blog for quite a while now, though I don’t yet consider myself a blogger. It is something I want to do, but the demands of the day often supersede my attempts. This piece is just another little push in that direction for me, thank you for sharing it.

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    1. …and yes, I have definitely written more since I’ve started blogging. I’ve made a private blog recently, just to get myself in the habit of posting, because there’s a different dynamic involved with blogging than with sitting down to work on a piece of fiction.

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  8. blogging is an arm for any who would like to express hisor her opninion about what is going on around. with all that is going wrong in tha worl we can’t sit there and do nothing. means don’t always come if words are not forward. words touch more than actions. words guide actions.
    here in west africa we’re facing ebola. that’s the worst terror we dealing with right now. we call for help. people around the world are consciuos of the danger this can be for human beings if nothing is done. this diesease can exterminate a whole family in a few days. very contangious versy dangerous.
    as i said in other circumstances life is a big book of story we write together. let’s write the end of ebola through actions. i mr diomandé i stand up and call everybody to stand and fight and kick this out of the world.

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  9. As a brand new blogger, I am so happy to hear what you’ve learned in this area! One of my concerns with an online presence is that the human connection will become shallow. I hear you saying just the opposite, that when we reach out to one another in raw truth we have a deeper exchange and respect for one another. Thank you!!

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