I'm Snarly

Daily you will rise and go to your keyboard. You will blog. And you will read what people write in response to your blog. And you will write responses to what they have written. And then you will visit the blogs of those who have responded to you. And you will write pleasant and cheery comments there. And then you will go back to your own blog, to see if anyone has responded to your responses. And then you will go back to the blogs of others, to see if anyone has responded to your responses to them.

Yes, that's me.
I haven't checked my sources but I believe that this is an excerpt from an article on why writers shouldn't have blogs. It apparently talks about how blogging distracts from the business of "writing".
I know I should check the source, read what I'm talking about but I'm not a journalist and I'm about to tell you my opinion, yes opinion, so I can say what I want without following due process.

The quote above really irritated me. Maybe it annoyed me because I recognise my own stupidity in the description or maybe it irritated me because the writer is looking down their nose at blogging.

The thing is, I'm not a writer, not even an aspiring writer so blogging isn't distracting me from "writing". It is, however, distracting me from the television or this morning it might be distracting me from the newspaper. So? What have I lost so far? A newspaper full of news I'll probably read later? A good number of nights in front of the box?

Millions of sports fans all over the world spend hours watching other people chase balls around courts, pitches and fields. They watch people drive cars around race tracks and people who want to swim faster than anyone else. Does all that sport achieve anything much? Do the spectators gain from it?

I know a woman who loves quilting. She makes beautiful quilts, bags, wallhangings, whatever. Her work is beautiful but she spends a lot of money to make these items when she could just buy them much cheaper and I wonder just how many beautiful bags, wallhangings and quilts her family needs. Should she stop quilting?

Thousands of musicians just jam in their garages with their mates, they never play in orchestras or become the Rolling Stones or write songs. They just play for enjoyment. Should they be striving for something greater?

You can see what I'm saying in my very subtle way. Sneering at blogging or bloggers is just intellectual snobbery.

When I was a little girl I was at the beach with my family and I made a disparaging comment about a largish woman who should have been embarrassed to be seen on the beach in a swimsuit. My Mum told me that the woman was to applauded for getting out and enjoying a nice day at the beach and not worrying what she looked like. (We all know that she probably was worried about her looks and decided to do it anyway, but that only enhances my argument)
I can't say I've always heeded that lesson but it has stayed in my head.

Our artistic or leisure pursuits are our own and we'll do what suits us.

Let the supermodels prance around looking gorgeous, worrying about getting their hair wet and how to maintain the perfect figure.
I'm going to lie here like a beached whale in my string bikini, enjoy the sun, splash around in the water, get a bit sunburned if I'm not careful enough and go home having had a pleasant day at the beach.


"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist."
Louis Nizer