Not a real blogger

"I'm not a real blogger." That's what I think more and more as I surf around the blogosphere. And I don't think that's a bad thing, either, just an observation. Part of me is amazed by the amount of links many bloggers post by 10:00 AM and by the sheer number of words they write. How do they do it? When do they find time to do it? A 200-word post takes me the better part of an hour or two to write, which is why I only manage one or two of them a week. I suppose we can chalk that up to a combination of factors: 1) I think slowly, and 2) I'm not someone who writes with ease...although anyone who's heard me try to convey a point in a verbal face-to-face exchange would undoubtedly and wholeheartedly describe it as a torturous experience. They would be among the first to suggest that I should stick with writing at all times

But I can't help but wonder, do most people really and truly have opinions about absolutely everything? Before blogs I thought that opinion pieces were the province of a select few -- those rare birds who could really spout off about everything in a reasonably convincing and eloquent manner. They were a select few, my theory went, because most people don't have Definite Opinions about everything under the sun. I based that assumption primarily on the fact that I don't have Definite Opinions on everything. I actually have very few deeply held opinions, and even fewer reasonably informed ones. You simply won't get me to argue about politics too much because I know so little about it in the end. And as for lots of other things, like economics or TV or sports or movies or music or [ insert topic du jour here ], I'm equally ill-informed and uninterested in sharing my half-baked opinion. I mean I don't think anyone really needs to know (or wants to know) what I think about much of anything -- not even my one reader, who actually knows me and likes me...or at least pretends to. :)

So much blogging, particularly the political stuff and the theology/liturgy wars that erupt in St. Blog's, is just so much "blah, blah, blah." There are a few standouts: the solid and welcome good sense of an Amy Welborn or of frequent commenter Sherry Weddell, the musings (and sometimes rantings) of a clever wordsmith like Mark Shea, or the lovely family stories from many of the Catholic Mom blogs of note. But I don't get the bloggers who truck solely in church gossip or the commenters who float all over the place turning every single thread, regardless of topic, into Liturgical Wars or a soapbox for RadTrad theology or gripe sessions about church architecture or the episcopacy.

I've got a post rattling around in my head that's kind of about this -- it's tangentially related, at least. I've been becoming more and more aware of the contrast between the real world Catholics whom I see daily -- at morning Mass, for example -- and the ones I come across during my time traversing St. Blog's. I want to get something written about it, only I'm having trouble getting it out in words. Perhaps it simply has to rattle around my brain a while longer, until I can form more of a Definite Opinion. Who knows when that will be? Chalk the delay up to the fact that I'm not a real blogger.