I am fairly sure I am not alone in the blogging community in that when I see, hear or experience something I find myself thinking;"I can blog about this!"
To be honest this type of conversation has been going on in the gloomy depths of my mind for decades, dating back to when I was a print journalist with a typewriter - yes I am that old. I frequently used to hear and see things that I knew would make a great news story or feature.
Both then and now however I knew in my heart of hearts that just because you can write about something, it doesn't mean you always should.
Take this week for instance. I was told an anecdote which set my bloggy-senses fizzing. This tale would have made such a great blog post. I could hear the narrative in my head even as the person telling me was concluding the story. But I can never write it.
Apart from the fact that bloggers like journalists and any other writers are bound by British libel laws, sometimes you can't repeat stuff simply because it will upset or embarrass someone, even if you only meant to share something you see as amusing.
(Libel, in case you aren't sure is anything in print, writing,pictures, signs, effigies or any other physical form which damages someone's reputation, exposes them to public hatred, contempt or ridicule or damages their business or profession.)
Regular readers will be pondering now about blog posts I have written and photos I have published featuring friends and family members which don't always paint them in the best light. (like this epilator fail post I wrote last year) but I always ask permission before sharing anything here.
At a recent supper with friends which I planned to blog about I did a quick shoutout before clicking the shutter on my camera.
I bellowed:"Anyone who doesn't want to be splashed across the internet, turn away now!" Since many of my friends are a bit wary of online exposure (for entirely innocent reasons I hasten to add!) most of them did exactly that. Not the best pic I've ever published.
One of my children too is not keen on being mentioned here and I respect that. I wonder how long the rest of my brood will be happy to pose for pictures and share the details of their life here? Luckily I write about lots of things other than them so I should be OK.
So how do we decide what we can and can't blog about?
Well I feel happy to publish anything that makes me look a tit. And since I frequently manage to do stupid things this provides lots of blog fodder. My long suffering husband also is quite calm about his life being an open book and my friends Claire and Jane are incredibly relaxed about me talking about our antics for which I am grateful but equally I am careful not to abuse that privilege.
I tend not to publish reported anecdotes - where someone has told you something that happened to a friend/colleague/relation. There are ways round that if the story could not possibly ONLY be about that person, you could blog about it in a "my friend told me this...." way.
Luckily I do so many things which are embarrassing I rarely have to look for anyone else to humiliate.
To be honest this type of conversation has been going on in the gloomy depths of my mind for decades, dating back to when I was a print journalist with a typewriter - yes I am that old. I frequently used to hear and see things that I knew would make a great news story or feature.
Both then and now however I knew in my heart of hearts that just because you can write about something, it doesn't mean you always should.
Take this week for instance. I was told an anecdote which set my bloggy-senses fizzing. This tale would have made such a great blog post. I could hear the narrative in my head even as the person telling me was concluding the story. But I can never write it.
Apart from the fact that bloggers like journalists and any other writers are bound by British libel laws, sometimes you can't repeat stuff simply because it will upset or embarrass someone, even if you only meant to share something you see as amusing.
(Libel, in case you aren't sure is anything in print, writing,pictures, signs, effigies or any other physical form which damages someone's reputation, exposes them to public hatred, contempt or ridicule or damages their business or profession.)
Regular readers will be pondering now about blog posts I have written and photos I have published featuring friends and family members which don't always paint them in the best light. (like this epilator fail post I wrote last year) but I always ask permission before sharing anything here.At a recent supper with friends which I planned to blog about I did a quick shoutout before clicking the shutter on my camera.
I bellowed:"Anyone who doesn't want to be splashed across the internet, turn away now!" Since many of my friends are a bit wary of online exposure (for entirely innocent reasons I hasten to add!) most of them did exactly that. Not the best pic I've ever published.
So how do we decide what we can and can't blog about?Well I feel happy to publish anything that makes me look a tit. And since I frequently manage to do stupid things this provides lots of blog fodder. My long suffering husband also is quite calm about his life being an open book and my friends Claire and Jane are incredibly relaxed about me talking about our antics for which I am grateful but equally I am careful not to abuse that privilege.
I tend not to publish reported anecdotes - where someone has told you something that happened to a friend/colleague/relation. There are ways round that if the story could not possibly ONLY be about that person, you could blog about it in a "my friend told me this...." way.
Luckily I do so many things which are embarrassing I rarely have to look for anyone else to humiliate.