Blogging questions

Amruta has questions:

Why did you think of starting a blog?

I felt I had made a great advance in my spiritual life. I thought I had pupated. I said so in my first post, and revisited this here. I continue, because I explore my spiritual life and growth, making the unconscious conscious, seeing behind the blind spots; or I treat it as therapy, sending messages to the ether rather than in a counselling room or in prayer. It is useful to me to try to make sense of things by explaining them to another. Blogging delights me: I could not have anticipated all the delight I get from it.

What is the one most boring thing about blogging according to you?

I do this entirely for fun. I write notes on long articles I read, like an undergraduate seeking understanding. My blog is my diary, recording and considering my experiences.

Do you think you can ever criticize or disagree with somebody’s blog or post? Of course respectfully.

Why respectfully? I use disgust contumely and derision when I seek out blogs saying LGBT is wrong and unChristian. I tell these people to turn to Christ. Why should I treat them with respect? I want their lies to be challenged, so it does not matter if my comment is moderated: they will see it. And the thing I enjoy most in blogging is establishing a relationship, reading and commenting over years. There I feel free to disagree, and explain my disagreement.

How did you choose the name of your blog?

My middle name is Claire, meaning Light, which I love. I felt I was flourishing. This blog is me: if you read the whole thing, 1683 posts now, 10,667 comments, you would know me well.

What will be your tips to new bloggers?

Have fun. Explore, and try new things. If you want to be a major power in the blogosphere, you will have to delete your first blog and start again; so you don’t even need to know, now, what you want from a blog: find what you like! If you write about a particular experience in a moving, touching and amusing way, you may build up a huge following and get a book deal: but I have no idea how to make that happen, or it would be me.

Describe yourself as a person.

This is me.

What is your biggest addiction in life?

Blogging, actually. Checking the dashboard gives me that addictive stimulus. My biggest delight is warm, passionate, funny conversation.

What is your philosophy/ideology of blogging? for e.g – I follow ‘Write what you Feel’

I write what I want to write. I post almost every day: my last break was in August last year. I share my experience here, and might feel I do not want to write when there is something I do not want to face. It is worth facing it.

And, Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.  Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops. I feel I am living on the edge, with nothing to lose from complete openness: for what I hide from others, I hide from myself. I need to know myself.

There is a huge amount of hatred and fear of trans people. I want cis people to read and see my humanity, my pain, my gifts and value; to be cuddly, not the Terrifying Unknown.

How much of your time is spent on writing new posts versus promoting on social media?

I do almost no promoting. I find new blogs I like, and comment, and there is always a tincture of “Come see my blog!” in that, but more it is showing appreciation and making a brief connection. I hate it when I comment on a blog new to me, and the response is just a “like” for my comment without a reply: I feel spurned.

What do you think of my blog and any suggestions for improvement?

Excellent question. Your pictures are lovely. That was the first post I saw. I scrolled down a bit through older posts, and thought, this is sweet but not really my thing. I had not been back since. Now I see your disagreement post, and find it different from my expectations.

You can’t please everyone. I had not followed, because when I follow I read a lot and comment. You might consider splitting your blog, one for whimsy- “Doggie bloggie” made me expect whimsy, which can be really sweet- and one for longer, reasoned argument, debate and serious questions. But these things can go together.