Is It OK to Say #%*+! on Your Blog?

I don’t always have the most glamorous strategy when it comes to writing these posts every day. I generally start by verbally throwing up all over the page and then I go back a few times and shape it into the coherent masterpiece you see before you.

Well, the other day while editing through my initial brain dump I found myself removing a curse from my post. Reading back what I had written, it didn’t quite feel right so I got rid of it. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but eventually that annoying voice in my head creeped in and planted a seed. Could it be that I was censoring myself in the name of not offending my readers?

Technically this is my blog and I can pretty much do or say whatever I want (except for whatever the blogging equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater is of course). Yet, I took it out anyway. It just didn’t seem to fit. Not so much with the actual post…with my writing style.

Don’t misunderstand me. I have no problem cursing. After all, I’m a Red Sox fan…I don’t really have much of a choice. I also don’t have a problem with bloggers that curse. In fact, one of my favorite writers is Julien Smith who dishes out a pretty healthy dose of “%$#@ you” on his blog and it works for him. In fact it works quite well for him. But that’s his style…

This is mine. When I go back and reread that post, I’m very much at peace with my decision to take it out. It was out of character for who I am and that’s what I think this post is really about. Curse…don’t curse…I don’t care. It’s not at all about the actual words themselves anyway. It’s about being authentic. Finding your voice and giving people a glimpse of that in your blog. Writing from a place of who you are and not what you think your readers might want you to say. Julien is a master at that. It may turn some people away, but that’s fine…the right audience will find you and when they do they will be more connected to you because of it.

In my case, I would never stand up in front of the room and give a speech on search engine !&%#$-ing optimization and so why would I on my blog? It’s still my voice, it’s just a different medium. So, I choose not to curse because that works for me. Some people will be fine with it. Some won’t. I’m OK either way.

So, what about you? Have you found your !&%#$-ing voice yet?