The Hand Mirror and I.

I was invited to write over at the hand mirror!!
The thought process in my head was quite interesting...
“The hand mirror? But... they are real bloggers”
“I can’t write well enough/frequently enough/ politically enough”
“What if they don’t like my writing after a while?”
“Oh my god, I can’t write with a group, I’m TERRIBLE at cooperating”
“Why is my chest hurting?”
Ok - I’m joking about the last one, but I was pretty wound up!

Until now, I have never really considered working with a group blog. I started writing to have a creative outlet for myself. I carried on because I love it, it makes me more aware of current events, my thinking and understanding of the world around me is evolving, and I have met some AWESOME people. The people who come to comment are most welcome and appreciated, but I almost resent the fact that I have to think about the readers before I click post. This is for me dammit!

If it was just about getting along with people, having a drink and writing a pro-choice banner, I could blog with any group of the women I follow on twitter and I would love to write with everyone I admire, but it isn’t as simple as that.

I asked for a wee bit of time to consider things because as honoured as I was, I did have a lot to think through.
Does what I write reflect on the other bloggers?
Does what they write impact on my (admittedly already shite) image?
Do I have to stand by any key concepts beyond equality and human rights?

It seems really simple to have a group of like-minded people all sharing a space but it really isn’t.
I don’t want to be edited or moderated.
I want control over my own article’s commenting, and I do not want the responsibility of moderating anyone else’s.
I don’t want to police anyone else’s politics, and I don’t want mine changed or muted.
If I get myself in a pickle and people are mad at me, I don’t expect the group to support me, and if someone else gets their foot in their mouth and I don’t agree with what they have done, I don’t want to have to be their support crew just because we share a space.
(Demanding bitch eh?)
Tricky stuff all round.
I love reading the hand mirror because they often raise questions I haven’t thought of. They keep me up to date with feminist news and issues. They provide a community of bloggers with their blog role and busy comment sections and I love finding new gems in there.
The key element I admire about the hand mirror is the fact that each writer is different, and they don’t always have the same opinion or stance on something.
And they don’t expect each other to.

That’s why I said yes.*


*Disclaimer – I will still be writing here, this is my home and I have grown proud of it – leaks and all.