Privacy

In addition to posting fiction on this site, I'm also interested in posting some essays which touch on some interesting topics. Although I rather abhor the term, it's probably accurate to call them thinkpieces (Slate.com has this article on thinkpieces which touches on a general undercurrent of dislike for them as implicitly pretentious). I'd prefer to make mine more amusing than ponderous, but that will likely depend on the topic and the sort of analysis that I can draw from it. With a risk of conceitedness well understood, I'm going to go through with writing them anyway and let readers be the judge of how deftly I handle it.

This blog posting represents the first of these sorts of essays that I want to share. The topic of privacy (online privacy in particular) has been something I've been striving to keep, at least as far as social media is concerned. It is, perhaps, rather ironic to want to refrain from posting much personal information on a site with my name as the URL. So, I suppose the ultimate question I ask here is this: Can a writer establish a connection with readers through their fiction while giving away very little about themselves personally? 

As I begin to showcase my work product here, I've been trying to figure out how much personal information I will want to share. I am not comfortable expositing my daily minutiae; leaving a digital trail of crumpled-up scraps of paper for you to follow. But the people whose work I've found that I go back to most frequently are the individuals whom I've gotten to know better. So it may well be a simple balancing act of maintaining a certain level of privacy while also sharing enough details about myself where you can feel some personal connection. This is a trick I hope to be able to pull off over time. 

Many internet personalities are willing to share so much about their lives, perhaps in an attempt to make you feel closer to them and establish a stronger connection with an audience, (this is especially effective if said person is a hottie). Stronger connections mean you are more likely to come back and read more. My family will come and visit here, but strangers are less likely. Producing content is only half of the job, with the other half trying to lead people to it. Networking pure and simple. And I hate it. Some thrive in establishing these connections; others stumble. I tend to fall into the latter category. It should come as no surprise that I do intend to share some personal information, pictures and whatnot, but with limitations that I'll have to set in due time.

It was suggested to me that I create a pseudonym to serve as a veil and give me at least something of a barricade (if only psychologically) from feeling too exposed, but I never took the idea very seriously. By simply using my own name, I'm hardly giving much away. If I were to try using a pen name, I think any amateur internetting sleuth ought to be able to figure out my real name without much trouble. Plus, if I ever reached a modicum of notability, my real name would most likely become public anyhow. My only regret in this department would be that I've passed up the opportunity to come up with something really cool to use for my pseudonym. Like Twig Thwarp. Or Blast Chakker. Or Crunk Bicksticker, Fozz Zammerer, Click Dicker, Rex Mouse or Harm Barton McFarter (names are fun!). Instead, I've decided that I will own my words and go right ahead and emblazon my name alongside them. I will own the language, the ideas, the confusion, the wit, the faults, the cleverness and the crap. Besides, who got anywhere by being timid? My intention here, first and foremost, has been to have a creative outlet and express myself however I wish. Self-censorship has its own perils and being forgettable is one of them. I have enough fear in my life and I'd be better off not letting myself get buried by it.

We all play this game: how much do I really want people to know about me? Honestly, it will probably change over time. I might be willing to share more in the future than I am now. Maybe I'll post some pictures and discuss some things I've experienced only to go and delete them a month later, and we all know once something is deleted in internet-land it stays gone. Perhaps that is what I will do: share, then remove. Brilliant!

- Chris