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Writer: How To Know If You’re Oversharing
Thoughts on staying in control of your online revelations
Whenever I write something that I intend to make public, I undergo the same temptation.
“This time,” I think, “I should say more and hold back less.”
I consider revealing a deeper level of my own archaeology, to dig into my own private history and to do so more unabashedly. No more skeletons, you might say.
The temptation is spurred on by the idea of allowing myself to be more vulnerable as a writer. There are many advice-givers out there who commend the idea of vulnerability on the premise that it makes you a more accessible writer. This is surely true. I often find myself browsing through stories of personal trauma, and not only do they impress me because of their frankness, I also have the deep sense of peering in on someone else’s life. It is a powerful form of writing, and in comparison I find my own words sometimes slipping into shades of grey, as it were, eager to say something personal yet holding back, concerned about revealing too much.
Accessibility or susceptibility?
In the keen rush to produce frank, honest writing, to share wounds and compare injustice against injustice, I sometimes wonder if confessional writing is…
