How I sometimes feel when I look at my Twitter feed after the Bachelorette airs
It's no secret that blogging is a means to be heard. I want people to read my writing, so I push it out there twice a week (at least), tweet about it, post on Facebook about it and hope that people like it and tell other people about it so that even more people read it.
I want people to read it so that they hopefully become fans of my writing and one day when they need a freelance writer, they will call me, or if/when I write more things, they will buy them and I can actually have a career as a writer. I mean, of course I also want people to enjoy it and maybe even make them laugh or think, but the overarching reason for blogging, in general, is to further my writing career, because it's what I love to do. So admittedly, yes, I want to be heard.
The danger of being a blogger and constantly inundating the masses with your words is that when a couple of people start listening, you start to think all your words are necessary. People need to know what you think about X. Why? Because you're funny. You're entertaining. You're insightful. Why wouldn't people want to read what you have to say?
I stand here before you (metaphorically) admitting I have gotten caught up in this. Over and over again. I tweet commentary constantly without stepping back to think if I'm actually providing something insightful or funny or if I'm just shoving in my two cents.
Soon I'm tweeting all the freaking time without really keeping track--oh this is a funny link, oh I had a clever observation, oh let me quote this person and add my opinion, let me respond to 18 people, oh and here's my blog post---and I step back at the end of the day and wonder how it's possible that I sent out so many. Then I feel embarrassed and wish I could take it all back. And possibly quit Twitter forever.
That lasts about until the next time I have a thought about a celebrity or need to promote a blog post and I'm back on the train.
I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who does this, but I'm willing to be the only one who admits it, if necessary, just to get it out on paper--or a screen, rather--in the hopes that maybe it will stick.
It's not like I consciously think, "I AM IMPORTANT. I AM FUNNY. YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO ME." But the underlying sentiment, if I really peel it back, is that everyone needs to hear what I have to say, and they have to hear it RIGHT NOW. It cannot wait a day or an hour or five minutes.
I think it can even bleed into my personal life when I'm in groups of people, especially ones I don't know very well. [Sidebar: these are small groups. I avoid large ones. Duh.] I want you to like me and think I'm funny and insightful and all that, so I just spew attempted witticisms about things. I love it when people laugh. I regret everything I've ever said about anything and want to run and hide when they don't.
So I'm thinking I need to keep my mouth shut more. I think I need to listen to someone else's opinions and ask more questions when I'm with people. I think I need to read more than I type. I think I need to take a beat after the initial "I should tweet that" lightbulb and see if it's still worth tweeting 5 minutes later. A lot of times, it's probably not as funny or insightful or, at the least, urgent as I think it is. Maybe people don't NEED to watch that video right this second. Maybe people don't need my all-caps rants. Maybe (just maybe) people don't care about the Bachelorette as much as I do.
Overall I'm thinking I might just need to reign it in.
You might not notice because I'll probably still tweet several times a day, but perhaps if I try really hard, I can take just one of those out of your feed and let you talk instead.
Do you ever have this problem of talking too much online? Or in person?