A Blog, Within a Blog, Within a Blog...

“While searching for an image, to enhance a story on the verge of completion, I came across a piece of writing which struck me as poignant, well written and intensely intriguing. Three things people like me, readers, can’t resist. The one short paragraph drew me into a train of thought which I had not been in a mood to pursue, but nevertheless felt compelled to. Reading that short post took less than a minute, but the complex emotion it imparted, left me open mouthed in amazement for several hours afterward. I knew immediately why this particular vignette had such an impact on me; it could have been written, if not by me, then at least about, one possible outcome should my present circumstance continue.”

The paragraph above is a quote from a novel I may one day write, the paragraph may be fiction but some of its content and the rest of this is fact. Not finding the image I was after, I started reading. Becoming engrossed in investigating the writing I had found, I followed the writer through several years of her life until losing the trail. It developed into something larger than one person’s personal diary; in fact I have notes which may one day lead me into that novel I once had ambitions of writing.

I want to share this literary find with you not because of its initial impact on me, or because of the way the story ends, since the ending is something I may write one day. I want to share the writing, which is a little story itself.

It begins as a blog, that’s all, just a few paragraphs every day or so on the web host, Blogspot. Considering myself something of a detective, I worked both forward and back from the post I had found. Having suspicions as to its “reality” I checked everything I could. All I saw gave me the impression that this was a real person writing about real life. The writer had friends, a child, and family. The emotions expressed by the writer flow up and down the proverbial roller coaster. The references to friends by name or pseudonym, the links provided and the dates from them tied into the blog post dates. This was someone just like you or I, writing just as I am now. The post I had found was written in early 2002.

Blogspot was only a couple of years old way back then, the logo looks decidedly 1960’s, where that came from we’ll probably never know. You do realise that everything you write to the internet is forever, don’t you? Anyway, the post on that blog from early 2002 is out there, it just happened that I came across it.

Writing a personal diary over a period of time gives readers not just your story, but a glimpse into your thinking. If the time frame is long enough, the way you think also changes, and becomes evident to readers. Many biographies are written from diaries. If the writer is not well known, only the words that are written can be taken as facts, no other information comes to hand to remedy incorrect interpretations. I won’t place the conclusions I came to about the blog post here, they’re based on additional words I’ve read by the author. Let’s just accept the impression the writer leaves with us from this “snapshot” of her life. I have made many attempts to contact the writer to discuss/comment her writing.  The URL, links, people and e-mail addresses I found, are no longer available or have changed completely. I won't give you the URL or pseudonym used, and without being able to credit the author for her work I can only say, anonymous, perhaps that’s the by-line many of us will one day have.

The screen shot with identifying items blacked out.  Perhaps I should have called this story, “I won’t be posting here anymore.”

JAWhite                                             Return To Main Page
November 2015