Friday, March 28, 2008

What Exactly is it You Want?

I have to be completely honest and true. I am paralyzed with anxiety.

It has been suggested that I "flesh out" the About Me section of my blog site. I have put off doing this for a very long time for a couple of reasons:

1. I wanted to keep myself surrounded in an mysterious aura - hasn't it been so-o-o alluring up until this point? Yuh. You know, so that readers could focus on my words (my many, many words) rather than me.

2. I have no idea what exactly to tell you. Everything I've written I've erased. It all sounds stupid to me, and mind-numbingly dull. What can I say?

So, I'm taking a casual poll (not too casual, though - maybe Smart Casual. Because we all love that).

What DO you want to know? I'll try my best to oblige, but be warned - all nasty requests will be whipped off here so fast it'll give ya whiplash.

Thanks in advance to all who reply. And to those who choose to reply in a less-than-gracious way, beware - my friend Babs is a voodoo practitioner, and she'll go bayou on your ass.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Without knowing too much about you, it is hard to say what I would want to know more of. I do find you entertaining and thoughtful, but I don't know what rocks your boat, or what kind of challenges you face (or have faced), what your goals are, what thrills you most in your daily life...
I think your about should give clues to what your topics are or will be...
humor?
satire?
poetry?
observations on life/fashion/kids?
girl stuff?

FYI... I did a crappy job on mine so I'm offering poor advice!

Shelley Jaffe said...

Countess AG: Thanks for your input - lots of great ideas! I am currently mulling and thinking of new ways to get my point across in a more user-friendly way.

I have to say, I need to rethink a good many things (focus, audience, template, paring down of length, do I really want to start adding pictures?).

This particular re-thinking of formatting? Definitely does NOT float my boat.

Anonymous said...

What do I want to know about you?
Well I think for me, thats the toughest question 'cause I technically do know you.
So, I don't know. Do I want to know anything?
I guess I don't really need to see words from you explaining who you are, because I do know.
So, my suggestion, (which is only because I've tried to write about myself in the past and it has been proven VER VER difficult), is that you get people to write for you.
I'm not saying I should do this by any means, but look at the people who know you best, get them to write a line.
Not only will it make you feel better about yourself, but it will answer the ultimate question that everyone is dying to know.
WHO IS THE BARONESSSSSSSSS!?

By the way, I'm commenting because I have 4 essays to write in the span of less than a week. One due monday, one tuesday, one friday, one next wednesday. This is only a form of procrastination.
And thats ME. No need to get anyone to tell me otherwise. =)

Lisa said...

As someone's whos "About Me" section royally sucks, I can totally identify. Personally, I'm not worried about having a good 'about me' section -- that's what my posts are about. Revealing me, one post at a time.

Apparently it's a bad strategy if one has a goal of accumulating los of readers and daily comments. If that were my goal, I'd be failing miserably considering I have only a handful of readers. Luckily, that wasn't and still isn't my goal. I started my blog just as a kind of diary of my thoughts, experiences, observations. Diaries use to have locks and keys -- now they have comment sections. OK, enough from me.

I guess I wrote that to say it's fine with me that you don't have an 'about me' section. I think your posts reveal you just fine. ...Barbra Peapod

Sandi said...

I think you should include that you are a cancer survivor in your About Me section.

Shelley Jaffe said...

Dear Sweet Procrastinating Leah:

I hardly think that there is a soul out there "dying" to know who the Baroness is. More like a vague interest, like did-they-put-oregano-in-this-breadstick curiousity. Get back to work, you.

Countess Babs: I find your About Me
quite informative! Isn't it funny - I've never met you before, but I somehow get a fairly good sense of you through your posts. I was hoping that would be enough for me, too. Maybe it is. Part of my struggle (get ready for the deja vu...) is that I didn't really start with a clear goal, and now I feel like I'm backpeddling a bit.
No worries, some more mulling, and I'll be good as new!

Countess Sandi: While I think it's a pretty important factum, I would only put that in if I felt I could find a word to replace "survivor".

I hate that term (look for a post sometime soon about it). Long story short, while I feel blessed to have faced this struggle and lived, to call myself a survivor seems to me to belittle anyone else's courageous struggle who ultimately could not overcome.
It was a hot bed of controversy over on the Colon Cancer forum, and I kind of opened a delicate can of worms, not so delicately. That's just how I roll.

Anonymous said...

I think the term survivor is a tough label to handle. It permanently identifies you with something that may be less than relevant.

I took on Asthmagirl because I'm not likely to escape the asthma monster. But at times, I deeply regret it because there is so much more to me and my life than swollen lungs.

Being a survivor of is far better than being a victim of, but it's still a big decision on whether you want that to define you even in your blog....

Just my .02...

Sorry to horn in....

Ms Unpacked2.0 said...

Ok,
Tell us what kind of music you listen...When the "help" is cleaning the house, or when you need to find yourself...or sing in the shower?

Shelley Jaffe said...

Countess AG: Don't worry about hornin' in - I wouldn't want it any other way! You raise an interesting point about survivorship - don't get me wrong on this - I am so very grateful. But this term make me feel uncomfortable, so I choose not to use it. And while the experience surely shaped the person I've become, I still can't muster up the strength to
acknowledge it, one way or the other.

Your Majesty: This will happen - very soon!

 
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