03.04.07
blogging, blog awards etc
Didn’t win but that’s ok this year. Blog awards were a laugh and I have many blogs to go and read. Beaut.ie were the revelation of the night for me. Apparrently they make money out of it! Never occured to me to go this route. Well done girls!
Anyway, with all the article and meeja attention on the blog awards, I see that the Indo wrote about me on Ryan Tubridy in a story headlined “The Weird World of the Mommy Blogger” . It’s kinda bitchy and it made me sorry that I hadn’t thought out the answers to Ryan’s questions a bit better before the show (I suppose I thought it would be more why other people blog and not necessarily me!)
Anyway, why all the bloody snobbery about blogging?
You’ve got the Ryan view which is that its a combination of anonymous insults (true) and weird confessional stuff by publicity seeking wanna be journos. Well, I tried, maybe not so well, so argue the point that:
1. This is basic self-expression. You don’t have to be an artist or a writer devoting your professional life to it. So I have a column but I did this for years before I had the column and while I had started out wanting the column I forgot about that pretty quickly. People need channels to communicate and the internet is one of them. We’re humans. We don’t have to get paid to want to tell our stories. He asked me, why not open a Microsoft Word doc and write. But I had tried that before. I found it went nowhere. When you blog, there is an end point, you publish! It gets you on a roll of writing. And it instills a certain discipline. It’s like when I go for a walk, I like to walk TO somewhere, you know, the shop or the creche. I find it hard sometimes just to walk. Writing is the same.
2. It’s also communication – i.e. not just getting out, but getting something back. It’s not just keeping a diary. Other people listening to your story is nice. Everyone likes talking to friends. Sometimes that’s not possible, or not enough. The blogging gives you feedback and that’s nice! People like reading about personal experience because they often find something to identify with and that makes them feel better about their own situation. It’s enriching.
3. It’s debate. You know, I thought that Leviathan stuff was amazing. People are PAYING €20 to engage in political debate. We like debating! And we’ve got opinions that we want to share. People are reading those opinions because the papers are clearly lacking a broadness of expression. And some of it is bloody good btw – pointing out where political analysis falls short. The popular sites have great quality. The MSM will just have to lump it frankly.
4. Why not do all this with friends? Well, it looks like friends and friendships are falling short in someway aren’t they? Or simply that we are all making new friends! And where’s the harm in that, honestly?
Only one piece of harm! Its uses up soooooooooo much time. I think I’ll take a little blog holiday 
donkykemore said,
March 4, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Communicating is like a tide drifting thie way and that across the globe ; it needs the wind , cloud sun cloud to lend it dynamic otherwise it is just that ; static and staid – drifting listlessly hither and thisther.
blogs shoule be trying to break the borders of hard oublication ; to go freely uninhibited by the oppressive threat of litigation.
It should be boundless and fearless and it should be confined only by the imagination of the blogger.
I dont say yours necessarly fall short in any of this . But I would venture to say you could afford to be more radical , farcical , inquisitive , hectoring – anything to cudgel the reader from out the blandness of stereo types who have oppressed by inertia , subdued by enneui .
But persevere
Patience and perseverance made a bishop of his reverence
But hesitate not to be irreverant .
P O'Neill said,
March 4, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Run of the mill hackery from the Indo. Begins with premise that there is a phenomenon of columnists muscling into the world of blogging. Just heard you on the radio. Has example. Slight problem — you are a blogger who muscled in on writing a column. Solution: change premise half way through article, submit it and collect cheque anyway. Brilliant!
donkykemore said,
March 4, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Are you the same PO Neill who serves as messanger / apologist ..?
stick to the bombs , you appear to know nothing about writing – but such is the availability of the thesarus that … well tiocaigh ar La agus mar sin.
Ive read your diatribe twice nay thrice over – cant make any sense of it.
Have you actually a point to make .How can you change a premise half way thrugh article .. Suggestion ; look up premise in thesarus
Dan Sullivan said,
March 4, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Commiserations on not winning but some of the nicest people didn’t win! I got complimented by twentymajor on the v’cast so that was nearly as good as winning.
I meant to have a chinwag but somehow I must have missed you. I was trying to move about a bit and put faces to names and so on.
Sarah said,
March 4, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Ho Ho! and donkykemore gets it very wrong with PO’Neill. Of course he’s not that PO’Neill you big eejit.
The author made no sense. He/She started off being snide about columnists who become bloggers and then complained about bloggers being columnists (and also columnists being on the radio…he/she was against all I think, except presumably common or garden columnists of which she/he is one).
John of Dublin said,
March 4, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Hi Sarah, you’re four blogging points above are perfect, I totally agree.
Sorry I didn’t get a chance to say hello at the Blog Awards. I was talking to Red Mum and when I went looking for you ya were gone like Cinderella at midnight!
It’s just my opinion but I think there is something wrong with the system when you don’t pick up awards. You’re easily the best.
Darren Mac an PhrÃora said,
March 4, 2007 at 11:15 pm
That article in the Indo is stupid.
tom said,
March 5, 2007 at 10:09 am
The problem with 99% of the blogosphere is that far from offering an ‘alternative’ to the mainstream media is simply offers more of the same. Am I the only one who doesn’t really care what you (not YOU Sarah, a general ‘you’) think of The Departed or the latest Kaiser Cheifs album, and isn’t particularly interested in hearing yet another opinion on here today-gone tomorrow political ‘issues’.
I realise that as a blogger myself I am guilty of hypocrisy when I point this out but then hypocrisy is a greatly over-rated vice.
Justin said,
March 5, 2007 at 10:59 am
that Indo article is atrocious. It makes the classic mistake of assuming that people who write blogs are somehow forcing other people to read it, as if it were a nationally-syndicated newspaper column… mind you I’d love it if it were possible to ‘unsubscribe’ from some of the columnists’ output
Sarah said,
March 5, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Feck, missed Dan and John of Dublin at the awards. I was too busy chatting up the soo cute Dominic Hannigan and his even cuter friend.
donkykemore said,
March 5, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Read article oc chock-lit in over weekend .would to take if your blog were to be described as chick blog.
No offence intended-its monday morning
And since it is would you be doubly offended if you were deascribed as a yummy mummy , though im not sure ahat that creature is exactly.. would it be a daughter of a sugar daddy , then again P O Neill was’nt who I thought he was either
Gio said,
March 5, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Sarah, I stumbled across your interview with Ryan half way through, you acquitted yourself excellently. His line of questioning was antiquated and completely subjective, quel surprise! I didn’t know of your blog before the interview and as the blog name wasn’t mentioned throughout (I missed the end too), have now only across you via John of Dublin’s site, which I came across via his posting on Beaut.ie!
Lucy Caldwell said,
March 5, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Hello Sarah,
It was lovely to ‘meet’ you on the Ryan Tubridy show, though what a weird show it was! I wasn’t sure what exactly I was doing there – my first play, (which I didn’t get to talk about) is about teen suicide, and I support a teen suicide awareness charity. I was under the impression that I would be there to talk about that, and about fact/fiction in general in art. And I was a bit nonplussed by the whole thing in the end. I thought that the really interesting discussion, which we didn’t quite have, was about issues of responsibility and betrayal; about how hard it can be for friends and family suddenly to be fair game when a degree of autobiography is assumed, or discovered. It was great hearing you talk about the responsibilities you feel for those who read your blog, and about the support network of the community. This, surely, is what any writing : be it blogging, columns, plays, books, poems : is about: reassuring ourselves that we are not alone. That snipey Sunday Indo column, which I saw : to my horror : utterly by accident, was sneery about blogging as a low art form, then assumed that “Lucy Conlon” (at least they got my name wrong!) considered myself snobbishly above it, which is as bemusing and frustrating as it is untrue and irrelevant! After hearing you talk so warmly and passionately : not to mention intelligently and sharply : on the radio, I have been reading your posts, and I think they are great. And : we all know awards are lotteries and mean nothing : but I think you should have won.
Best wishes,
LucyCaldwell
Damien Mulley said,
March 5, 2007 at 2:55 pm
This is a most excellent post Sarah, very valid points and puts it in terms that everyone can understand. I’ll be referencing this post when people take digs at blogging.
Sarah said,
March 5, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Gosh, its all love today
Warm glow on this wintry day 
Thanks all.
btw I am still getting over the shock of seeing Twenty Major on Friday. His mate was there who picked up the award last year. I thought that was all a ruse and the friend really WAS him. Then when HE picked up the award I spent 20 minutes bugging Justin going “That’s not him. I don’t believe that’s him” and Justin going “Sarah, it’s him”.
Still coping.
Dan Sullivan said,
March 5, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I find the DTP attitude a bit strange given that 90% of them are simply conduits for press releases from NGOs, political parties etc.
I personally haven’t seen anyone in mainstream journalism looking to do anything to refute or indeed take further my takes on the 1 in 3 issue for FF in the upcoming election or my explanation as to why BUPA couldn’t attract the over 50s. And that would be just my own tuppence worth there are much more productive bloggers who have posted well argued and researched opinions on many things over the last 12 months. Meanwhile the Sindo is giving us SoDuCo girls (based on their bebo pages) and the IT is foisting Roisin Ingle on us.
Justin said,
March 6, 2007 at 10:16 am
in passing, this article is pretty fascinating on the whole public-exposure angle of blogging: http://nymag.com/news/features/27341/
It basically suggests that it’s a new way to look at privacy, in a world where privacy no longer really exists; it discusses this from the point of view of the Bebo/Myspace/Livejournal generation, where a generation of kids is growing up blogging. Well worth a read.
‘It is a constant surprise to those of us over a certain age, let’s say 30, that large parts of our life can end up online … But that’s not a behavior anyone under 30 has had to unlearn.’
Grandad said,
March 6, 2007 at 1:16 pm
A very good article, Sarah.
People have asked me why I write, and the straight answer is that I don’t really know. I enjoy it, but I don’t know why. I suppose it is the modern equivalent of carving our initials in a tree [but a bit more eco-friendly].
Then I read your post and shouted Yes, Yes and Yes! [am I a modern Anti-Thatcher?]. Those are the reasons.
We can post our innermost thoughts, or our frustrations, or our rants, or even just something that might have amused us. No-one is obliged to read. But a spot of humour on a dull day can cheer us up. Or we can read that someone else is as frustrated about an issue as we are, and we don’t feel that we are the only ones that think that way.
Justin says “It is a constant surprise to those of us over a certain age, let’s say 30, that large parts of our life can end up online”. Well, I am way beyond 30, and then some. I shunned the idea of blogging as being self indulgent prattling. Then I was dared to do it, so I did. Just to prove I was right. And I was wrong.
UnaRocks said,
March 6, 2007 at 2:42 pm
The article in the SIndo was hilarious. They slate bloggers as attention-seeking losers, yet trumpet ‘The Bebo Girls’ on the cover. Lord save us.
The paranoia in most of the Irish print media regarding bloggers is just pathetic. It’s down to ignorance, and the assumption of ignorance amongst the general population. The you have people (generally those who have been the butt of a few online insults) who treat bloggers as message board miscreants.
Most vaguely intelligent people realise that two mediums can actually exist together – shocker – (remember the DEMISE of the movie industry when people started buying TVs?) and those who don’t bother to educate themselves are asking to be laughed at .
As someone who writes for a living, my blogging is obviously far more casual and personal – I don’t want to come home from my job and continue it on the couch. But then again, I don’t ask anyone to read it.
Roisin Ingle said,
March 6, 2007 at 3:04 pm
UnaRocks: You are spot on about the print media paranoia but I think it is getting better. I hope so anyway.
Dan: In fairness The Irish Times also foists Fintan O’Toole, John Waters, Vincent Browne et al on you so luckily there is lots of choice. I think the point here is that there is room for everyone. You might not relate to the gorgeous goings on at beaut.ie, say, or have any respect for the stuff I write but clearly you enjoy Sarah’s musings and those of other bloggers/columnists.
It’s a matter of selecting what you enjoy and ignoring the rest. That’s what I do anyway whether it’s bloggers or column writers or authors or bands.
Sarah: I found Ryan’s approach to the interview with you strange to say the least but I think that it’s more because he isn’t in touch with the blogging world at all. He seemed obsessed with your one post about bathroom stains but it’s funny how his researchers decided to ignore all your hard-hitting news/current affairs posts in favour of the domestic ones.
In the circumstances I thought you explained yourself well. Your post about blogging says it all really. But why bloggers have to justify their existence to anyone is beyond me. And, for what it’s worth, I think your blog is a great read.
PS My sis works in Rococo, glad they sorted you out with a nice guna for The Late Late!
Sarah said,
March 6, 2007 at 4:08 pm
gosh I’ve been saying to myself all week – I’m giving up the blog, I’m giving up the blog. But HOW??? The comments are brilliant and now Roisin Ingle’s left one! You know what’s happening? I am sneaking into the establishment and as I meet people my compulsion to like them will undermine my willingness to criticise them. This is why we need bloggers. To keep up the disinterested criticism!!
EWI said,
March 7, 2007 at 12:28 am
Dan: In fairness The Irish Times also foists Fintan O’Toole, John Waters, Vincent Browne et al on you so luckily there is lots of choice. I think the point here is that there is room for everyone.
Not for Harry Browne, though.
Now, there’s someone who ought to be blogging.
EWI said,
March 7, 2007 at 12:32 am
You’ve got the Ryan view which is that its a combination of anonymous insults (true)
Pseudonymous, Ms. Carey.
EWI said,
March 7, 2007 at 12:34 am
p.s. link of the week:
Bernie Goldbach said,
March 7, 2007 at 3:56 am
I wonder if Ryan Tubridy appreciates the amount of blogging Irish teenagers are doing right now. Their platform of choice is Bebo or MySpace and many of them will evolve their writing onto personal blogs sometime during their late teens.
Slagging off blogging as some passing fancy risks alienating an audience. Many in that audience might wonder why Ryan himself doesn’t blog. At the very minimum, a Tubridy Today Blog would feed the presenter’s ego through link love and stat-gazing.
Dan Sullivan said,
March 7, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Roisin, I think you mixing the situations there in terms of getting the option to ignore folks. I pay for the paper and that means my few shillings go to everyone and anything in there irrespective of whether I like it or not.
I was simply pointing out the hypocrisy of a section of the publishing industry complaining, or more accurately in the case of the Sindo, whinging about bloggers when they are basing their business model on stuff whether content from the SoCoDu girls and their bebo pages or your own column which is a column much like many blogs that may not be to all tastes.
I don’t have much interest in your column though I’m sure others may. The difference is I have to pay for it anyway. And I don’t want you to think I’m singling you out, I find Vincent Browne to be terrible mentally lazy in his columns. Ah god travellers aren’t valued by the GAA, perhaps it might have something to do with things like the mess that they made of a pitch in Kildare. Vincent, travellers aren’t the most vulnerable in Irish society the disabled and the elderly are.
I bought the Village initially because I thought it worth supporting but when it couldn’t even get basic facts right ( take for instance the article about news anchor people in the US which spoke of Peter Jennings still going strong on his network several months after his death from cancer. I emailed them and never received a reply or saw any acknowledgement in the mag of this mistake)
And Fintan should run for election and see if he could get people to bother to wander down to a school to put a mark next to his name, rather than playing hurler on the ditch all the time.
We’re paying for some degree of professionalism, fact checking and accuracy when it comes to the DTP, and frankly if it can’t be bothered to do that then why not get our news from the technological equivalent of corner boys and gossipers.