I’m not sure what goes through the mind of a personal blogger when they decide to become one, having not made that decision in over a decade. Do we sign up for this as a place to spew the events of the day in a vain attempt to make them seem… notable? Are we feeding some deep, dark desire to entertain the masses? I don’t think we begin such a commitment with the idea of becoming rich and famous. I never really expect that anybody will ever offer me a book deal, which in turn will become a film starring one of the greatest actresses of all time.

But, somehow, for the lucky few, that does happen. And, yes, my main example here is Julie Powell. You may know her as the protagonist of the film Julie & Julia. She was played by the super adorable Amy Adams. The film also featured Revered Goddess Meryl Streep as the late, but still renowned, Julia Child.

I liked the movie. Why wouldn’t I? Amy Adams is a little packet of sugar with adorable red hair. Meryl Streep is everything I aspire to be in life, ever (despite not being an actress, or anything). I love cooking. I love blogging. I enjoyed this movie.

As a logical next step, I picked up (the electronic version of) the book. And… it sucks. At first I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, saying it couldn’t possibly be as interesting as my previous literary choice, Battle Royale (a novel about 15 year old schoolchildren murdering each other as part of a government competition… amazing), but even after the intrigue of the gore had faded away, I have been struggling through this “memoir” that I can best describe as…. booooriiiing.

Julie is whiny, she cannot describe her own anecdotes in an entertaining way, and she likes to jump around a lot. Of course, blog entries don’t take too much energy to write, they are short bursts from the writer’s mind, onto a screen. Perhaps she was more tolerable as a blogger (i.e. in smaller doses) than she is as a novelist. But the book still sold enough to become a bestseller, and to be made into a film that starred THE MOST AMAZING ACTRESS EVER EVER EVER.

I read tonnes of blogs, daily. My feed reader has 100 articles waiting for me at any given time, it seems. There are so many other bloggers out there who I would love to read novels by. I’m sure they would consider themselves to be good writers. I consider myself to be a good writer, in fact, I’ve been told I am an excellent writer since I learned to write (at a very young age, I might add).

Now, I sit here with a heavy heart wondering what would happen if I was removed from this medium. Would writing in a different place, for a different purpose, turn me into a bad writer (and rather narcissistic bitch… not at all like the sweet Amy Adams, as far as I can tell), a la Julie Powell?

Thursday January 27th 2011 — 6 Comments
✯ Posted under { Books • Films • Review }