This blog has been around for 11 years now. Before this blog, I was active on another blog, https://diedieken.wordpress.com/. At the time, it was more of a precursor to Meta for me.
From the outset, this blog was intended to be a colorful collection of texts. Initially, I only published poetry, but other texts were soon added, ranging from an ode to video stores, reports on workshops I had attended, recipes, running tips, race reports, life events, etc. The quality varies greatly, and I am aware of that. I post many of the texts without thinking too much about them and without having put a lot of time into them. In this way, it also becomes a kind of time capsule for myself. No doubt there are quite a few spelling mistakes crept in. Every now and then I reread posts and occasionally I remove a blog post out of embarrassment at the quality.
We live in a visual culture, but I don’t always feel comfortable with that. So I continue to opt for a blog. In the depths of the internet, you can still find videos of me.
I have already had a lot of fun keeping this blog, even though I know that in these fast-paced times, people generally don’t take much time to read blogs anymore. Blogs seem like artifacts from a bygone era. Nevertheless, I want to stubbornly stick to this blog and even publish more texts in the future. I am currently taking a writing course with Anna M. Hoogland, which encourages me to write even more. I will definitely post something from this course on my blog from time to time.
I have already learned through trial and error that there are not many responses on this site. However, I do not let my enjoyment of writing depend on likes. When I am no longer here, I will be done with it. I once read that this era is full of narcissists. Social media and visual culture are said to be a fertile breeding ground for this. Or is it the other way around?
I receive responses earlier in my meta posts with references to the blog. The nice thing is that WordPress also gives me a glimpse behind the scenes, and I can see that the blog is viewed regularly. I see that the blog is also viewed abroad from time to time, so from now on I will occasionally translate an article into English. However, my grades in English class in secondary school were not good enough for me to publish flawless English texts. I will therefore seek the assistance of a translation assistant. One of the advantages of not going viral is that there have been no toxic comments yet. Thank you, dear viewers, for always being so kind.
I have decided not to use AI in my Dutch articles. Otherwise, I will clearly indicate this in the blog. When I convert my articles to English, this may happen. I also try not to use AI in my writing lessons. Otherwise, it takes away some of the fun and, at times, the pride.
On to more posts…
Dieter Bruyneel
Translated with the help of DeepL.com
DIETER BRUYNEEL (MIJN PEN, MIJN WERELD) 