After an almost 2 year hiatus (mostly due to graduate school) my largest dilemma with this site has been to rebrand. Asking questions like "Do I need a new site?", "Should I brush up (or flat out improve) on my grammar and writing skills?", "Do I create a schedule to make this site more consistent with posts?", "What will they think of me?"  The problem is, if I took the time to answer all of these questions let alone try to answer/rectify them before writing I would never write. So I googled a new template, posts may be a bit infrequent and some (most) will not be of journalistic qualities, but I will keep on writing. It will it get better, bigger, the target audience, message, and purpose more well defined. But who controls it's direction? Me or the demands of the public?

Since the very tag of this site is noting all the open tabs in my head I know that the narrative is controlled by the council of Me, Myself, and committee member I, but that doesn't fully eliminate the pressure. Working through finding my voice and choosing to stay silent when there is nothing to be said is a delicate balance that I wonder if any of us, blog or not, have managed to master.

Two women who are on opposite sides of the narrative spectrum, but mastered controlling it fully well are Beyoncé and Necole of XONecole.

Silence is Chosen

After covering the September Issue of Vogue Magazine with no interview Beyoncé was further examined about her choice to go an entire year (or more) without answering one direct question to the public press.

Necole was known for her pop culture gossip site Necole Bitchie, but decided after many years of covering the (often negative) news of others, she wanted to change her story and public output to a new lifestyle site that provided post to uplift her followers and not feed on the ever increasing FOMO that plagues the population. In the final post on her blog Necole was completely transparent with her audience for the reasoning behind her transition.  

Both approaches were effective for the women in controlling how they are/were perceived by the media. But what if it's not the media that is interpreting you? What if your public is your work place or your business organizations, your church? What if you don't have a media and publicity team to filter your thoughts through? Our lives go through constant change and transition, and in that time who we are, how we define ourselves, and how we want to be defined changes.What is the best way to control the narrative? That is what I am still trying to figure out. I don't really know when to be silent, or when to speak up, and after a few mimosas that line is even more blurred, but I am starting to get used to the bumps and the bruises on the journey to know.

 Here's to getting it wrong on the journey to getting it right!