The View From Here: Nerves

For this week’s question, Shayla and I tackle the issue of nerves.

Have You Ever Felt Nervous or Uneasy About Publishing a Post?  Why?

On my old blog, I used to get political and controversial all the time, mostly because I didn’t think anyone was reading it besides a few friends and family.  Here, I’m much more aware of what I put out into the world, and I try to maintain a fairly neutral position, I hope.  I’ve written a couple posts about delicate issues, and before I published my post about living with scleroderma (which was still on my old blog, too), I sent a copy to my family, just so they would know ahead of time.  The comments I received (now closed) were incredibly supportive, and really reaffirmed my decision to write the post in the first place.

But the piece that caused me to lose sleep had nothing to do with controversy, and everything to do with perfection.  It was my profile of Emma at Home, a line of paintings and home decor, which was also on my previous blog, that stressed me to no end.  I wrote it while taking the blogging class last summer, and after falling in love with the paintings (and in the interest of challenging myself as a blogger), I contacted the company and asked if I could profile them, thinking I wouldn’t here back.  Instead, literally minutes later, I heard from the PR representative, who was incredibly helpful and gave me full use of the photos to share on my blog.  It was my first-ever contact with a company, and I wanted to get everything absolutely right.  I wrote and edited the post, and then edited and edited and edited, proofread and proofread and proofread and proofread.  Since I publish at midnight, I lay in bed that night, unable to sleep, and finally double checked everything one last time as it went live.

Now, it all sounds kind of silly and over-dramatic, but it was a big deal for me at the time, and since I was added to the company’s press list, I felt a responsibility to maintain their level of accuracy and perfection, too.  I wasn’t paid for the post at all, and I simply loved the works and wanted to share them with others, so all the pressure I endured was completely self-created.  In a way, that is really hilarious.

The post on Emma at Home was definitely a big blogging step for me, and I’m much more comfortable in my shoes now.  I still profile artists I love from time to time, contacting them for permission to use their pictures, but I don’t feel nearly as much pressure as I did the first time around.  I guess it all comes down to experience.

I also try to think of my blog as a living thing, which might sound totally cheesy, but I can revise and edit after a post is live, too, so mistakes can be corrected.  Plus, you know me well enough to know that a mistake, to me, is probably something like a missing comma or a photo that I forgot to label.

I take blogging very seriously, but I don’t want it to become a source of stress, so I try not to get too nervous about my posts now.

Lesson learned, for sure.

Do you have a post that made you nervous?  I’d love to hear about it, and feel free to share the link, too.  And remember to check out Shayla’s response on her blog, Northern Exposure.  I’m curious to see if life as a reporter has given her a thicker skin.