First Mean Comment. Stats Update. A Few Notes on my Life. :: Article

“What exactly are you attempting to achieve here, Hal?” writes Mark McCawley. “Where’s the personal risk? Or is this going to become another very large coffee table book?”

Okay so that’s not exactly scathing but it’s mean, at least. It’s my first mean comment! It’s a dig at my writing career (though a strange one, since the only book I’ve published that could be remotely construed as a coffee book was the Original Canadian City Dweller’s Almanac – available on Amazon.ca starting used at .25 cents) and a dig at my blog. All neatly done in three concise sentences.

Well, look, he’s got a point. So far, not much risk happening on this blog. I’m not exactly opening myself up to you, my readership. I want to get more personal, but every time I try I cringe inside and pull back. But this blog is just beginning. There’s plenty of time for me to work up to it and spill my guts. I will reveal! Just give me time.

Anyway, according to Andreas who presides over all things peephal.com my stats are slowly growing. His last report said that I’ve got about 30 more daily visitors than I did last time he checked. But in total only 12 people have visited the site 15-25 times. He figures that I’ve got roughly 9 regular readers. Welcome back once more my loyal 9! If I’ve disappointed you, I apologize. But I’m doing my best here.

So I was going to write about my weekend but, honestly, not much happened. My hockey team was in the finals for our division but we lost. It was a fun game. That’s about it. Next week my parents are coming in for Passover. That should provide more fodder, I’m sure.

In the meantime, I did a CBC interview today that will air Wed. morning between 10 and 11am on CBC Radio 1’s Sounds Like Canada. I’m discussing the extremely important topic of “my favourite pop culture saying from when I was a kid” or something like that. My choice was Mr. T’s: “I Pity the Fool”. If you want to hear me waxing nostalgic over the A Team, be sure and tune in. I actually thought I sounded like a bit of a doofus, despite my genuine love for ‘T’. Still I managed to work in my 2nd favourite Mr. T tagline – “I ain’t gettin’ on no plane, Hannibal” while I was at it. Truth is I always leave radio interviews feeling like I was terrible. Especially when I’m trying to be funny. Well, listen in and let me know what you think. Be mean if necessary.

(2.)

I don’t believe your writing career is in any remote danger from my little comment, Hal. By the way, I wasn’t intending to be mean; rather, to nudge you to do what your blog suggests it intends to do: expose the self, and the private/public dichotomy.

Canadians, by and large, are very insular. At least that’s my observation. What we say and what we do tend to be quite different. However, with the advent of the internet, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites, this contradiction is becoming increasingly difficult to uphold as the public and private person becomes less and less of a distinction.

Personally, I’ve found it is either sink or swim. Sure, some among us are still uncomfortable at this perceived loss of personal privacy. We are in an entirely new realm and new definitions of privacy have yet to be completely ironed out, legally and socially.

In terms of current fiction writing, these gray areas between what is real (autobiography) and what is not (a fiction) has never been more unclear as it is now. Personally, on more than one occasion, I have had readers of my writings mistake me for my persona (and my persona’s foibles) with very negative results in the so-called “real world”.

So, what did I mean by personal risk? It seems to me that if we are going to explore this “new realm” of socializing, we cannot just sit back and watch, but actually participate as well. If that means allowing the unseen, unwashed masses, a long stare into what makes Hal
Niedzviecki tick, isn’t that worth it? And ultimately, wouldn’t that produce a better book (not one to collect dust like so many coffee table tomes)?

(3.)

Caught your piece in the Walrus, but, since a generic contact with you seems unavailable, this route appears to be the only way I might get to Hal. (my apologies for the tired pun)
Below is a link to some thinking I did on this intriguing topic last October. Thought you might be interested.
http://fredapeeble.blogspot.com/2007/10/big-family-is-watching.html

About the Peep Diaries:

Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki.

I’m a 37 year-old writer/thinker. I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and two-and-a-half year-old daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’m going to try it too. I’m starting this blog to tell the world about my private, everyday life. ... more

The Peep Diaries