Personally, I find it quite therapeutic to write through my own issues to try to come to terms with them and to make sense of them myself. I have an unfortunate habit of oversharing, though, which leaves me then feeling vulnerable and worrying about who will read my posts, how they may react, and if they will understand where I’m coming from.

Ultimately, you must draw your line where it is comfortable for you. If you don’t want your kids or your parents or your ex to read it, or if you think it reveals too much about someone other than yourself, then keep it to yourself. If, however, you’re delving into the depths of your own psyche to sort out your own tumultuous emotions and you feel confident enough to share that not only with strangers, but also with your children and your parents and your ex, then just do it!

This is the beauty of blogging.

What is it about Mary Karr? I don’t know. I envy her ability to be honest about ugly stuff and to not care much who reads it. And her writing is often so wonderful, descriptive and poetic. Although this last book also had some hackneyed elements to it, even in the language, which surprised me. (For example, she can do better than describing someone’s perfect teeth as looking like Chiclets, can’t she?)

I’ll keep plugging along…

Listening to readers is good, but it’s your blog and you call the shots. Don’t feel you have to post anything you wouldn’t be comfortable showing your mother / editor / kids / etc. As soon as you start worrying about whether or not you’re pleasing your readers, you’ll lose what makes your writing unique and fresh. The world already has a Mary Karr. Wonderful as she may be, we don’t need a second one. We do need a Christina Frank.

You’ve also got at least one, maybe two blogs in the first two bullets of this post alone, and a second one in the last two. I want to hear more about how different your life has become. I want more images like the one of you as the only woman on the block shoveling snow and dashing into H & M at lunch. I also want to know more about why Mary Karr’s writing makes you feel like quitting, and how you struggle with the truth when you’re not even sure what the truth is.

It’s all there, Christina. And so are the growing pains.