Just Who are you anyway?

Are you a wannabe “blogger” or “an Influencer”? Are you a writer who travels, or a traveler who writes? Does it even matter?

I know we all would be lying if we didn’t admit that there’s a small part of ego in our writing. We could probably debate how much but if we are honest we would have to admit we enjoy positive feedback. Maybe even enjoy having someone go “Oooo” at one of our travel pictures. But I have always seen myself as a writer who travels more than a traveler who writes. I want people to read about the world not to say “Man, is he lucky to have been there.” but “That looks great I want to go there myself.”  I don’t want to generate envy, there’s too much of that already. I want to ignite or (even reignite) someone’s dreams. Now that’s not too presumptuous of a goal, is it?  But I am trying to come by it honestly. I am trying to keep hope alive it myself and I do want to do the same for others too. I have been a bit of a recluse here, there are a lot of reasons but none of them pertained to not loving blogging, more time management stuff.

Tomorrow, I am going to do an update of my weight loss journey and how the last couple months have impacted but tonight I want to tubthump a bit, so If you’ll indulge me a moment on the soapbox, I would be honored.

A fellow blogger acquaintance (we have never met personally but have chatted online a bit) posted about an “influencer” who sold an online course about how to be as successful as they were. (She have over 900K followers on Instagram) I checked out her blog (such as it is) but it really was nothing more than links to her Instagram. (Ditto her facebook page but she does have 65K likes). Anyway, even though I don’t have a dog in this fight. I feel bad for the 500 people who got conned. They were supposed to get a 12-week online course and about six weeks in the “influencer” said she had some so personal issues and needed to go to Southeast Asia to “do an eat, pray, love pilgranmage”  taking the 200k with her and not giving any refunds.

I get that people flake out sometimes, but I hope she faces legal action for this stunt. What really got me was the use of the word “Influencer” I really hate the word. I don’t want to “influence’ anyone. I can’t even get my dog Jinxie to sit on command.  I never want to be like “Hi, I’m in Morrocco look at my backpack and hiking shoes.”  I’d rather be “Hi I’m in Morrocco here is the history of this place, and why you should visit, and how to find a way to do so in your budget’ I guess that is “influencing’ of sorts. But I want to have a relationship with my readers and if I am to find a way of making a living doing this, I may have to sell something. But I do want to influence jack didley. I want the destination and the story to be the star, not me. I might mention a product, but only if I use it, and recommend it. I want to find a way to do that with integrity. If I lose the trust of the people who follow me, I need to just hang it up and go back to a day job.

In one of my very first post, I asked people:  do you consider yourself a writer who travels or a traveler who writes? I do think I am a writer who travels. How about you? I mean travel is “my beat”  but I love history and art and culture and they will always feature in my posts. But I could write for days about a city and not even know it has a beach. Sorry, this post has been a bit digressive. But I am so grateful to have you following me. I want to earn your trust and I promise I will never try even once to “influence” you.

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com