This post is more geared toward other bloggers, but anyone can read it who’s interested in blogging content and what gets filtered
No censoring here!
I often wonder if there’s anyone I know who secretly reads my blog. I know there’s a lot of people who read my blog who I know if real life – my friends, my family, a few people from high school who’ve said hi from finding the link on facebook or from another website. There’s clients, close family, extended family, close friends, blog friends, acquaintances, and possibly even enemies! As time goes on, more and more people I know have started reading the blog, which is great.
Then there’s the big group of anonymous readers who are merely interested in food and fitness and what I have to say. This group is who I visualize as my audience each time I sit down to write a post.
Graduating with a journalism degree, one could say I’m not a huge fan of censorship. Ergo, if one truly thought about each and every way an expression would affect each person, there would be a lot lotta the “c word” going on. Obviously I have some sort of filter when I publish my posts. The posts are public, of course, and I don’t want to offend too many people or even get in trouble myself. I censor parts of my life I consider too personal for public, some of my opinions that touch on taboo topics, blatantly offend someone I care about, as well as topics or expressions that might negatively impact or trigger a reader. I also make a conscious effort to never write anything that would make someone feel poorly about themselves.
On the flip side, there are some posts that I know will affect some more than others. From “those who are looking for a great workout will love this post” to “Bestest Friend for Life will love this recipe!”
However, one of my main goals on this blog is to be honest and real, and putting too much censorship in my writing would make this awfully hard.
How much thought do you give to the individual people reading your blog when you press publish? Do you think you have a big censor? It’s definitely a balancing act, no? Or maybe better a recipe!
Perfect Balance Post
3 cups of honesty
2 cups personality
2 cups information
1/4 cup censorship
Put all ingredients into several paragraphs and edit until just combined (but not too much!) Hope for the best 
heh
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Thanks, everyone, for listening to my rant yesterday. I feel MUCH better today. And I actually got close to 7 hours of sleep last night. It’s a miracle!!
Off to tackle my Thursday! What’s your Thursday have on tap? I’ve already trained a couple morning clients – and now I’m off to work at the BIC all day, and train one more client! This week has been a doozy!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my DAD!!!! I love you 
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Have a good one, friends!!
I love this post! My favorite blogs are the refreshingly honest ones. When you have a blog it’s so easy to only write about the great, wonderful, fabulous parts of life. But letting your guard down is so much more appealing.
I went through a tough breakup recently, and for a long time I didn’t write about it. I wasn’t trying to hide it, I just wasn’t ready to put it out there to the world and didn’t know how to convey my feelings for a while. When I finally wrote about it, it felt incredibly cathartic to get it all out in the open. But more importantly, I found a wonderful support system from fellow bloggers and readers. I have also found that the more honest I am on my blog, the more honest I am with myself in general.
Great post!
I still don’t promote the blog via facebook, and bc of that, I’ve kept quite a few of my friends from knowing about it (ex: guy friends who don’t understand why girls squeal over cupcakes). It makes me feel more free to write and less likely to censor myself because of what they might say.
However, I do always wonder when I get people googling my full name and get to my site. I really really wish I knew who they were!
But it’s a CUPCAKE!!!
Happy birthday to your Dad!!!!
I agree- it is tough to decide what is OK and whats not OK to say on the blog. I’m always fearful of accidentally offending someone…That being said, I still try to write from the heart and share what I’m actually feeling/doing. I have kept a few life things off the blog for privacy reasons (never know when a creeper is reading. Hope you have a good one
This is so pertinent. I have a really hard time letting real life people know about my blog because of that exact reason – I don’t want to write differently and say things differently because I’m worried about a personal audience. The people that do read it know me on a deep, personal level and that’s how i like to come across on the blog. No BS, no fakeness, no repression of thoughts.
Great post!!
I actually tell very few real-life people I know about the blog… I feel like I would censor myself much more if everyone knew about it. There are things that I talk about on the blog, like body image, that I talk about with girlfriends or strangers via the internet … but I wouldn’t want male acquaintances to read, for instance.
I don’t really think too much about censoring myself, but I think subconsciously we all pick post subjects and use language that we think our audiences will embrace. It’s just human nature, to a certain extent.
That being said, I always find that when a blogger is candid about their life, eating habits, etc the posts are so much more poignant.
I really like this post. Having just started blogging, everytime I sit down to write I struggle with this a bit. In real life I’m a pretty sarcastic person and I worry how that might come across on the blog. I love your advice though to not worry too much. I’d been wanting to blog for awhile but had an intense fear of what those “facebook friends” and others might think but I finally just went for it. And honestly, it’s been quite liberating.
thanks for this post!
Woohoo!! Good for you girl
With what ever topic I am writing about I try to be as honest I can be…..but I definitely don’t talk about EVERYTHING thats going on in my life. I think there needs to be some level of privacy when writing my blog so I try and just gear my posts towards the things I know would interest my readers. A little bit of censorship, if it’s in the writers and the readers, is a good thing I think!
Thanks for this post!
I definitely agree. Some things just need to be kept private!
I basically don’t write about anything that I wouldn’t want my parents or bosses to read. And I have more of a potty mouth in real life. But my parents and bosses are aware of that!
I think about who might be reading A LOT! Someone once told me to think of what you’re saying or writing as being on a billboard. I try to discern between frustrations/emotions and true issues when creating blog content. I would hate for something I said “in the moment” to come back and bite me in the buns!!
I know that every time I’ve been afraid to press publish, I’ve gotten the most heartfelt, honest comments. I would say that we all hold back some parts of our lives and it’s only fair, really. I’m by no means a censorship supporter, but I’d much rather have a blogger designate things as “personal” rather than to use a blog to create an unrealistic fantasy land, you know?
Sometimes I think I want to just give up on blogging, because I’m so bad at censorship!! I’m getting much better, now that I know I have people who read my blog who work for my company and who actually tell my boss….it’s just so hard and it makes me nervous!! You never know what will offend people anymore.
BTW, I read your blog post from yesterday and I laughed because I HATE THOSE HELICOPTERS!! They were all over my yard when I was growing up, and I was also hit by one yesterday from my neighbor’s bad yard!
I don’t really see self censorship as censorship so much but me wanting to represent myself as best as I possibly can. I would never want to offend or polarize someone in a face to face conversation and with the written word, it’s even easier to take a breath before publishing something. I blog about restaurants a lot so I’m going to be honest and tell the truth about my dining experience whether positive or negative but like in real life, there’s definitely a way to do it without bashing or being offensive.
I try not to censor myself when blogging in the sense that I want to be honest with my readers. I don’t want to portray myself as something I’m not. At the same time, I try to keep the focus of my blog in mind and I don’t blog about certain parts of my personal life. It’s definitely a balancing act!
Love this “recipe”. You know I’m all for open honesty…but I also do consider what I’m putting out there, which leads to SOME censorship every now and then. Great post, Paige!