Someone once told me that keeping a diary forced them to lead an interesting life or they would have nothing to write about. This was in the era of pen and paper when your workrate was a private matter between yourself and your conscience. There was no audience to make sure you kept churning out well written entries that other people would want to read.
Now we are in the era of the public blog where we our whole lives can be selectively aired for public scrutiny. I have made a few false starts, but I am now getting into a momentum where writing feels as natural as going to the toilet. Some people want to document the intimate details of their lives and relationships, but I need to steer clear of too much disclosure. I have a job as a teacher at a Shanghai international school so I choose to avoid public discussion about topics that could jeopardise my position here. You will never see me criticising my employer or writing editorial comments about sensitive areas of Chinese Politics. Otherwise, everything is one hundred percent honest, although I must admit to being prone to exaggeration and hyperbolae!
This blog is not a diary in the sense of today I ate cornflakes and lanced my cat’s boil. It is more like a magazine with articles about the issues that interest me, particularly technology, music, films and living in Shanghai. I teach a technology ethics course and need to be involved with what is going on, but I also want to give something back. I have lived in Shanghai for nearly three years. When I arrived, it was not always easy to get everyday useful information about where to go, where to buy things and where to hang out.
It is funny looking at comments and traffic data (www.google.com/analytics), because that gives me some idea about the impact of my writing. I have seen my traffic increase exponentially after Shanghaiist linked to a couple of my postings, only for it to drop back to its earlier levels just as quickly. For a short while, my blog was contagious but not very sticky. I can see this from my stats that new people come and look at my blog everyday, but most people don’t come back. Should I worry about the fickle nature of my blog and Internet readers? Do people want me to write about technology, music or living in Shanghai? Should I write racier, controversial articles? Should I tone down the geeky element to make it more accessible to general readers? The truth is I am still my own editor and do this for fun so I am happy if people come and read my blog, but it wouldn’t matter too much if I had no readers as long as I can keep writing articles with an honest voice.
I feel like I am losing touch with my friends in the UK, because there is a huge time difference and they don’t like using phones or computers. Hopefully, they can read this blog to keep upto date with my adventures, but that also implies that I am leading an adventurous life. Going to work and watching DVDs is not really enough source material to generate compelling blog content. I can quote and editorialise other people’s stories and articles, but it is also important for me to go out and write about my own experiences whether it is going to a mad market or finding a decent, cheap restaurant. This brings us back to the first point that I am not just blogging about what I do and see. I am doing and seeing things so I have something good to blog about.
