Thought-Drive & Blogs

It's funny the way posting on a blog effects your thought patterns. Now that I've starting writing online (I can't bring myself to use the word blogging), I've found myself thinking in terms of short, novel writing selections for a nondescript audience. Before now, I would usually think in terms of conversing with close friends. My thoughts would come to me as words I would say to Matt or Elise or Mikey, etc.

There are a few elements of this that I find intruiging. First, it says something about the format of a blog. It is like a worldwide conversation. You're not just talking to a page, you're talking essentially to everyone (and anyone). This is especially true of blogs, rather than other forms of online writing, first because blogging (aha! I did it) is such a constant and fluid activity; it can be done about anything at any time and is expected to be fairly regular. Secondly, it is conversational in that blogs are highly intertextual. They constantly ref each other, almost like a forum posting without an organizer.

The second aspect that this highlighted was the nature of thoughts. Do they always occur in a specific format? I am guessing that most people habitually think in one way or another--to one audience or another--in such a consistent manner that they don't even recognize it. It is only when they switch environments or start reading one type of text so heavily that it starts influencing their thoughts.

Lastly, it highlights for me the idea of conversation as a drive, and further, thoughts as a drive. When I'm thinking to another person, it's like building up little bits of expressive desire. An event happens, or I have a thought, and then I subsequently have the desire to tell it to whatever person I think would be most interested. It is almost like a sex drive. You have a desire and want to express it/satisfy it. That may sound ridiculous and send the middle-schoolers in all of us giggling to the floor, but I think there's something to it; thought drive