Social Media's Fun House Mirror

I like to think that I would write like this anyway.  I like to think that the breath, depth, and quantity of my output would be the same regardless.  I always say that I do this for myself.  Of course, the occasional comment and retweet are gratifying.  Can you blame me for basking in the joy of being heard?   But there is a certain danger in notoriety.  When does hoopla replace the primacy of the writing process?

I have started and stopped a million times.  The record laid forward in my blog history is marked by periods of great productivity interspersed with vast deserts of low yielding crops.  The ebb and flow of my emotion crests and falls with motivation.  I write and write and write, then stop.  These dry periods can last days or years.  There's no way to tell.

Never in my life have I produced as consistently as in the last year.  Never have I blogged so much.  When I look back at the last three hundred posts, I feel great pride.  Some are better than others.  Some have barely been read.  But they all are an accurate reflection of who I have become (spelling errors and all).

I don't know how long this fruitful period will last.  Maybe I will push the publish button and disappear for a month, maybe not.  Your guess is as good as mine.

The one thing that is abundantly clear, is this period began when I linked my blog to Facebook and Twitter.  Is it a random coincidence?  Or has the process of social media altered me.

I look into social media's fun house mirror.

In the reflection, I see the writer I was so hoping to be.

But better.