6 MONTHS IN THE BLOGOSPHERE

October marks this blog's (and its mirror in Spanish)'s sixth month. Therefore, this post is a reflection on my blogging experience so far.

At first it wasn't easy. Even though I'm used to writing. I've published in English my academic work, and in Spanish my recent book about telenovela Cosita Rica. In addition, I write daily in my "research journal", where I reflect on the process of studying telenovelas, I confront the paradoxes inherent to this tv genre and to my identity--a Venezuelan woman in U.S. academe, I write new ideas and incubate other thoughts. These writing experiences, however, are a reflection of the dichotomy that underlies and characterizes my writing: the public and the private.

My public writing is about research results, processed and polished ideas, and refined arguments. My private writing is always a work in process, and it relies heavily on intuition and personal reflection. This blog is in-between. Hence, my difficulties in finding what I call "my blog voice." I would like this voice to have some of the professor that I am, and a lot of my reflective process. But, it doesn't always come out that way. There are those times in which I write as if I was dispensing a lesson in my classroom. I must admit it isn't easy to reflect in a public forum. After all, I grew up writing in journals that came with a lock and key so that nobody could read them.

In spite of these difficulties and the fact that I can't spend more time writing, blogging is an amazing experience! Never before did my research and preoccupation with telenovelas reached so many and so far away. My blog has forced me out of the academic conversation in which I only talk to scholars. My readers are now included in the conversation, and I love it! It is like being in an academic gym in which every comment posted, and each of my responses, are stretching exercises for my brain and my perspective. And the telenvoela picture is less and less blurry.

To end, here are some of the things I'd like to do with my blog:

1.- Change its template.
2.- Try to post more frequently, even if the posts are shorter.
3.- Write more about my experience teaching Telenovelas, Culture and Society.

To all who read: THANKS! Your presence and comments enhance my academic work, and make me a better scholar.