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I know, I know, everybody else in fandom has gotten one way earlier, or at least that's what it seems like. Therefore I'll start my new blog with a short explanation of why it took me so long to get one.
It's not that I'm opposed to blogs and finally gave in grudgingly (though I still like mailing lists better for many types of fannish discussion), nor do I think that my blog will be exceptionally boring compared to other fans' blogs (though most likely it's not going to be very thrilling or of fabulous entertainment value either). No, the hesitation was all about language.
The common language of the fan communities I know is English, which is not my native language. Now generally I have no problem with that. My whole website is in English after all. However, it seems still sort of weird to write a journal-like text in a foreign language, even if it isn't about very personal stuff. All the journals I've ever kept were in German. Even though I intend this blog to be primarily a fannish one, I know that I tend to meander when talking about anything. Which is why I usually need to edit all my mailing list posts in order for them not to stray regularly into related, vaguely interesting topics, that are still definitely OT for the thread and/or list in question. A blog on the other hand, by it's very nature, doesn't necessarily demand such a disciplined focus. So while I expect this blog to be mostly fannish, I will probably be sidetracked from time to time. And I'm still worried that it might be awkward to write in such a way. With English as the language of choice, as the common fannish language, the one I'm accustomed to in fannish discussions, but balancing that with the ingrained habit of thinking in German when writing journal entries, with German as the language in my head when I sit down to express most things that are not fandom related in some way.
I know it works perfectly well for other people to have a blog that's not in their first language, still, I'm not sure about this. I guess I'll just have to wait, and see how it'll work out for me.
It's not that I'm opposed to blogs and finally gave in grudgingly (though I still like mailing lists better for many types of fannish discussion), nor do I think that my blog will be exceptionally boring compared to other fans' blogs (though most likely it's not going to be very thrilling or of fabulous entertainment value either). No, the hesitation was all about language.
The common language of the fan communities I know is English, which is not my native language. Now generally I have no problem with that. My whole website is in English after all. However, it seems still sort of weird to write a journal-like text in a foreign language, even if it isn't about very personal stuff. All the journals I've ever kept were in German. Even though I intend this blog to be primarily a fannish one, I know that I tend to meander when talking about anything. Which is why I usually need to edit all my mailing list posts in order for them not to stray regularly into related, vaguely interesting topics, that are still definitely OT for the thread and/or list in question. A blog on the other hand, by it's very nature, doesn't necessarily demand such a disciplined focus. So while I expect this blog to be mostly fannish, I will probably be sidetracked from time to time. And I'm still worried that it might be awkward to write in such a way. With English as the language of choice, as the common fannish language, the one I'm accustomed to in fannish discussions, but balancing that with the ingrained habit of thinking in German when writing journal entries, with German as the language in my head when I sit down to express most things that are not fandom related in some way.
I know it works perfectly well for other people to have a blog that's not in their first language, still, I'm not sure about this. I guess I'll just have to wait, and see how it'll work out for me.