I wrote about Ann Leary today, who just put out her first novel; she is, among other rather more interesting things, Denis Leary's wife. She's also a very good blogger, as she's innately sensitive to ideas about control and self-presentation, and remorse as well. One of the things she and I talked about that didn't end up in the piece was Emily Gould and her Times article on blogging and self-revelation. Leary went out and read some blogs. "Everything I saw or read, I normally would have been cynical or snide," she said. "Because I'm so afraid of sarcasm or snideness now"—publishing a book will do that to you—"I only have the nicest kindest thoughts towards everybody. You feel so vulnerable and raw." And we talked about the weirdness of being on the internet, and how her kids won't friend her on Facebook so she friend-requests them everyday. Which is hilarious. She also said a number of things I think about a lot, like: "Until this year I always thought of myself as just a couple years out of college." Agh, me too, and I didn't even go to no college.
