A Change of Heart

I recently attended a Westport Writers' Workshop conference, which was chock full of practical advice for writers wishing to get published. There were multiple panels featuring authors, literary agents and publishers, as well as a keynote from writer Courtney Maum. Not surprisingly, many of the pros stressed the importance of platform.

I of course have this blog available for all to consume, but I've kept my social media channels private. My Instagram and Facebook have always felt very personal. I've posted albums from my twenties, wedding and honeymoon. I've featured my kids, a lot. And while Liv often implores me to post our pics to Insta, I worry she or Mia may someday wish I didn't share intimate photos from our life.

Even if my kids don't mind now, or in the future, sometimes I feel wary of posting pictures of them. I don't want to live from fear, but I do have privacy concerns. Is that a bit neurotic? Maybe. We can find potential safety threats in anything, anywhere. Why limit a creative outlet? I am clearly waffling, big-time. But after the Writers' Conference I feel invigorated to put myself, if not my kids, out there. I want to share my work, grow my readers and make publishing connections… to dive deeper into the writing world.

So while I'm still grappling with the question, "What is appropriate?" I decided to archive pics in which my girls' faces are showing, and make my Instagram page public. Still, I'm struggling with that call. As I hid adorable photos, one by one, I waffled. Perhaps I could show faces, but cover their little punims with emojis, as some parents do? Or on the flip side, maybe I shouldn't even include pics with the kids looking away? For now I'm just making game-time decisions. At some point I may even put everything back on the grid, children and all. We'll see where this social media dance takes me (and my family) <3.

AES