write to the size of your heart.

(this post was inspired by jon acuff’s post titled “play to the size of your heart, not the size of the crowd“.)

so… i have officially completed my masters of journalism course at monash university. if i pass everything (results are out on 9 july, and i know i’ve passed two subjects so far…), graduation will be on 11 october.

but the time between now and then will be spent sending my CV to various publications in the hopes of landing an internship/work experience. if you are one of those publications reading my blog, hello! i’d love to work with you.

it is kind of terrifying, writing about my personal life and putting in online. when i first started this blog, i wanted it to be quite impersonal. content would just be about the food i love and the food i don’t like very much. that’s all.

as i thought more about what i wanted to post, i realised that my life is so much more about food. yes, i love dining out and cooking. but more than the food, i love the company, the ambience, and the memories i associate with the food. life is about the people you love, and the people you come to love.

i also began to worry about readership. some days, some 110 people from around the world read my blog. i don’t think i have 110 friends who stalk this space regularly, so if you are one of those readers that i don’t know personally, here’s a huge hello to you too! (: it is a privilege to have a space to publish my thoughts (which are sometimes quite nonsensical and illogical, haha), and to have people read them as well.

but i came across jon acuff’s post on playing to the size of your heart. if you haven’t read it, click on the above link and spend five minutes on it. you won’t regret it, i promise.

the greatest thing i took away from it is… i’ll have to worry about readership when i start working. fairfax and new limited have come out to say about 2000 jobs in journalism will be axed in the coming months. people are no longer buying newspapers. print journalism is moving in a different direction… although goodness knows what direction that is. generating content that people will read is a great concern, and balancing that with quality journalism is another.

yet, this is a space where i can publish without worry of losing readership – i can write about life, food, Jesus. no advertiser will tell me to stop writing about these things; and that is a huge relief.

i guess i am learning to write to the size of my heart. it is not always easy, because there’s this small voice at the back of my brain telling me, “no one reads your pathetic little blog anyway.”

if you do read my blog, do leave a little shoutout in the comments below. i’d love to get to know you. (: but if no one reads my blog, then wordpress is another haven for me to do what i love: write. it allows me to hone my craft, if nothing else.

i’d like to believe i have a huge heart. and if i write to the size of my heart, then i’ll have lots to write about. in time, i’ll meet different people – either online or in real life – or i’ll just write somemore.

either way, i am learning to write. every day is another day i get to do what i truly love.

thank you for reading, and thank you for going on this journey with me.

lots of love,
diane