To blog or not to blog…that is surely the question.

I am a newbie to the blogosphere and find myself with a fascinating dilemma. I started this online 'journal' to keep my friends and family up to date with what was on my mind as it seems there is never enough time in the day to make those 20 phone calls or send those emails. This is way more efficient. So far, so good. I could rant, share my ‘insytes’, expose my inner being…warts and all. I would simply hit 'Publish Post' and whoosh – away went my thoughts into the black hole I thought was the blogosphere – sitting dormat while the next little nugget of Kristie’s ‘insytes’ was being developed. Never in my wildest dreams did I think anyone unknown to me would be interested in what I had to say and to be quite honest, I wasn’t even sure if some of those people who love me would take the time to sort through my madness. This is where it all went wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. Well, kind of.

A friend of mine has a great Marketing blog and was kind enough to mention me on her site. Cool. Sweet of her to let the world know I have been unleashed onto them. :) Tara even went so far as to call me a ‘brilliant’ woman, but I think she might have had a few cocktails during lunch that day as that might have been a slight exaggeration of the word. But I digress…fortunately for her, and unfortunately for me, her blog has been well received and read by many. It seems a fellow Marketer's interest was peaked and she decided to check out my blog hoping for some sign of intelligence. It took her the most recent post, which at that time was about my sinus infection. Lovely. Not exactly how I wish to introduce myself to strangers. Funny to me (or embarassing depending on how many beers I have consumed when I start thinking about it) - she blogged about the first impression this left her with and it ended up Squidoo's blog. Geez, nothing like putting a spotlight on the darn thing.

Note to self: Check out that Squidoo software once released and then write something intelligent so there is at least one sane point of reference for people to click too. Ha!

So this is the risk you take when you put your stuff out there.

It is interesting to me as I now understand just how far my words can reach and that what I say does affect people (good or bad). What a crazy feeling I have now as I write. I feel empowered. Frightened. Enlightened. Wary. Open. All at once. Wacky stuff I tell you.

Will it make me more cautious of what I put out there? No. It will however, help me hone my writing skills to ensure my message actually gets across to the reader – known or not. I am a Marketing girl at heart and thought my communications skills were dead on, but it seems there is quite a bit of improvement needed on my end. Lots and lots of improvement. As I reread that post, I realize I didn’t get the message across I had started out to share – doesn’t matter now, but I had gone in wishing to express my dissatisfaction with Western medicine, the crappy little HMO plan I signed up for at work and the horrible scheduling process at UCSF (my group of 'specialists' only work on Friday mornings from 8am - 11am and there is always 50 of us trying to get in at once). But instead, I focused on my fear of nasal spray and my longing for a witch doctor to move in next door. Whatever. It worked at the time.

This 1.2 seconds of attention did make me evaluate the whole sharing with the world experience. This step back was surprising to me as I am pretty outspoken and don't usually worry what other people think. What it boils down to is while I realize what I say can be/is a reflection on not only my other half, but friends, co-workers, my employer, etc. - you just can't think about this too much or you stifle your creativity. What was that? You didn't realize I had any? Funny guy you are. Hardy harhar.

I know it is not necessary, but I want to add a disclaimer here as it doesn't fit at the top of the site: This blog was never intended to represent me as a Marketing professional or to share ‘insytes’ into the company I work for (which will never be mentioned by name here as this is a personal blog and I am sure my CEO is issuing a huge sigh of relief now. If you absolutely must know - simply Google my name…and whalaa). And no, for the record on the Google search, I have not had metabolic surgery. That is some other KW, who I am sure is as fabulous in her right, but she has a different story to tell. Ok, where was I? Oh yeah. Personal blog. One day I might share my thoughts on a cake recipe or the need for re-organization in the Federal Government. I will most certainly write about the snot in my head again as it has yet to clear and the drugs are done - I know you all are staring at your screens waiting for that text to roll in. I think the beauty of the blogosphere is that I can write what I want. People can think me ‘brilliant’ or they can think otherwise. If you are looking for some profound nugget of marketing genius…might I suggest a little Seth Godin? Me, I just want to share my thoughts. I tried painting and failed – so this is the next best thing.

So whether you know me personally or not – stay a while. Give me a chance. Or not. That is the beauty of this beast. You can sift through all the chatter and find those people or things that move you. There will be plenty of those that don’t – you just simply hit 'next'.

Rock on fellow Marketers. Hello to the other women bloggers out there. And a big shout out to my snotty brethren. I raise my handkerchief to you all.