A Year of Blogging
And the Last Judgement
Last year in February I started blogging on Rome-ing Catholics, in April I added the first Abbey-Roads (my best writing), later I added The Cardinal In The Bushes, a personal blog - now deleted - because of people at work you know. Currently I have 2 blogs, Abbey-Roads2 and Leaflet Missal Blog. That’s enough.
Some friends were talking about the Catholic Blog Awards coming up and how people will be submitting their nominations. Out of curiosity, I did a quick review of my posts, mostly with the intention of re-posting something instead of coming up with anything fresh.
I have to confess, I wasn’t impressed with my writing style. A style indeed became evident as I reviewed my posts, which I thought rather ordinary. There are a few posts I’m proud of, such as, “The Low Spark of Low-Rise Pants“ - although most are just so so.
Many of the posts deal with the news of the day, some of it secular, much of it Church related. It’s a web log, so what is one to expect? I wondered why I even cared to write about such trivia? Beyond that, why would some people become so upset with things I wrote? (A few have gotten their nose out of joint over some of my posts, which is more amusing to me than when I try to be funny.)
What I like best about my stuff is that I am always honest and direct in what I have to say. To paraphrase Cary Grant, “The effeminate regard a man’s honesty as cruelty.” I just wish I was a better writer.
I continue to wonder why I care to write about issues, when before blogging, I rarely felt inclined to discuss such things, content to have kept my opinions to myself? However, keeping one’s opinions to oneself, may in some instances permit one to have a higher opinion of oneself as well. It has been a school of humility to hear my opinions contradicted or challenged, and I’ve learned a lot.
However, in the end, we will all be judged on every word we speak. Every word.
So why worry about what people who comment on my blog write? For that matter, what the people at work think? There is a bigger day of reckoning coming…and could be pretty soon.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Some of the best parts of your blogging have been when you debate with yourself whether you should be doing it at all.
Like now.
Bloggers like me debate with ourselves all the time, but rarely do it in public.
Thus our blogs are far less interesting.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
GEEEZ!!!
If you quit blogging, I want your home phone #!
January 29th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Terry,
I have printed one of your posts and I keep with me. It has even come on a retreat with me! It is not your best writing, nor will it merit you
any awards. It is very simple, but speaks to my heart every time I read it. I will keep it forever inside the pages of my prayer books.
Thank you for writing, Terry. You have a gift, and you have ministered so much to me during these last 12 months.
May God bless your words and your keyboard!
(Pray without ceasing, Abbey Roads, November 18/06)
January 29th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Thanks for your kind comments everyone…I’m surprised.
However, I have no hopes for any nominations or awards. I just like to write.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Terry,
Who cares about awards? Ask yourself why you started a blog…was it to simply express your thoughts? A whim? A strange idea that through this you would somehow serve Christ?
Keep writing. You do indeed have a gift, you are brutally honest, and the world needs that kind of honesty.
Sure, maybe you’re wrong sometimes, maybe you cross a line here and there…but who doesn’t?
The reality is that you challenge people to think. You teach us all about things we might not otherwise consider, and like it or not, you have become a “presence” in the blogosphere.
People like me will one day just fade away….but you appeal to such a wide audience that if you left, there would be an “Abbey-Roads” shaped hole in the world.
Like it or not, you serve a purpose here. It’s not about awards; it’s about something much greater.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Oh, yeah, and totally OT…I got my book list for my first Grad class…does Leaflet have “Mother of the Redeemer”? It’s out of print.
I need to order my books…am toying with coming in so I can meet you in person.