Blogging, the ups and downs of a blogger

Ray and I started this site  shortly before we went to Shanghai.  I was playing on the Canadian women’s team and Ray was the NPC.  Both of us blogged from the event.  At first it seemed like there wasn’t much response.  Ray actually wrote in one blog that he wondered if anyone was reading it.  That brought quite a few replies which made him feel better.

I think of my blog as my bridge diary but a diary that other people can read.  I decided at the beginning that I would right what pleased me and hope that it was of interest to others.  I have never had trouble thinking of things to write about.  I have always loved the beauty of bridge hands.  So many deals are wonderful puzzles to solve.  The play and defence are my favourite parts but  bidding can be fascinating too.  So if I am just watching people play it doesn’t take me long to think about something interesting about a deal. 

Still I needed to come up with some personal rules.  Of course I couldn’t say anything negative about my partners or team.  It was easy enough to find good things to say about them and their play.  But it was sometimes difficult to discuss what was happening in a match without pointing out a mistake.  If my partner induced an error with a great deceptive play than someone had fallen into the trap, perhaps needlessly.  So I wrote about the victim but named no names. 

Sometimes I wanted to discuss or get input about a hand I had played where it wasn’t clear who had made the mistake so while I might name the participants I wouldn’t say who was who.  This all seemed to work fairly well.

Recently, I found my dark side.  It was pretty well impossible to review a world championship match without mentioning errors.  Bridge is a game of mistakes and misjudgements, after all.  I did try to be positive though.  But then I saw what I considered to be serious mistakes by a professional.  I couldn’t help myself.  I named names and I said it was a costly and serious error.  Since then I have done the same thing again once or twice.  I need to adjust my code – like Dexter, the mass murderer of those deserving, perhaps? 

But never, oh never my partners!

Even when I comment on someone else’s blog, I wonder what to say.  How much should I disagree with them and how nicely.    Most of the time I say what I think and damn the torpedoes.

Mostly it has been a pleasure to blog.  Almost all the feedback has been great.  Still it is nice to hear from readers directly and when I post and don’t get comments for a while I miss it.  And I think I have been able to tell good stories and follow my code.