Writing Lots About How I Don't Write Lots
Apr. 1st, 2005 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqI haven't been writing much lately, and the writing I have done hasn't been that good. Some of it falls into the "I had toast, it was crunchy" category. There's nothing wrong with that if you can make it sound amusing (which I can), I just want to do something more.
So I write about politics. I've started and given up writing about Terri Schiavo a couple of times for example. My thoughts are contradictory and poorly organized, which leads to contradictory, poorly organized posts. I'll give you the short version instead: She died 15 years ago and her body was finally allowed to catch up yesterday. I hope that her relatives can move on in their lives and gain some level of closure. I doubt it though - I predict a "wrongful death" suit is coming.
I wrote a sort of meta-post about other people's writings (namely grog and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evilscientist). Both wrote responses defending their actions. Guys, I wasn't trying to suggest that you were wrong, only that there is more than one way to approach these topics. For the record I enjoy both of your styles and I usually get something out of everything you write. You don't need to defend yourselves from me. That you are (defending yourselves) tells me that I wasn't as clear in my writing as I had intended. This is what I get for posting past my bedtime.
I guess I should be glad I don't drink, imagine what a dog's bollocks I would have made of things if I had.
I feel a need to write something and I tend to go through phases where it's like turning on a tap. The words come effortlessly from my mind to the screen and only my typing speed holds me back. Topics range far and wide, from reviews and daily updates, to humorous tales of my past and political or scientific primers.
Currently I'm not in one of those grooves. Writing is difficult, the words come hard and I agonize over every sentence, unsure if that is what I mean to say. I force myself to post when I probably shouldn't and my reputation as a decent writer must suffer for it. Thank god for online quizzes, they give me something to post when I'm like this.
My current writing nadir annoys me because I feel like I have an audience now. When I first started, I could write for weeks without getting any sort of feedback. In the last few months I seem to have passed some kind of threshold and now it's rare when I don't get comments. This holds true even when I'm writing fairly inane stuff. I think this is the penny in the beggar bowl phenomenon - nobody wants to be the first to post a comment, but once somebody has made that leap, others will happily join in. I know several people who got Live Journals primarily to comment on my posts. I like being popular, I want it to continue. I even have a few secret readers. I'm curious as to who they are, whether they know (or knew) me, or if they came across me randomly or from a friend's page as I have done for so many others. I'm not so curious as to scare them off with demands for their identity, mostly because I've been known to anonymously read a few pages myself.
So I write about politics. I've started and given up writing about Terri Schiavo a couple of times for example. My thoughts are contradictory and poorly organized, which leads to contradictory, poorly organized posts. I'll give you the short version instead: She died 15 years ago and her body was finally allowed to catch up yesterday. I hope that her relatives can move on in their lives and gain some level of closure. I doubt it though - I predict a "wrongful death" suit is coming.
I wrote a sort of meta-post about other people's writings (namely grog and
evilscientist). Both wrote responses defending their actions. Guys, I wasn't trying to suggest that you were wrong, only that there is more than one way to approach these topics. For the record I enjoy both of your styles and I usually get something out of everything you write. You don't need to defend yourselves from me. That you are (defending yourselves) tells me that I wasn't as clear in my writing as I had intended. This is what I get for posting past my bedtime.I guess I should be glad I don't drink, imagine what a dog's bollocks I would have made of things if I had.
I feel a need to write something and I tend to go through phases where it's like turning on a tap. The words come effortlessly from my mind to the screen and only my typing speed holds me back. Topics range far and wide, from reviews and daily updates, to humorous tales of my past and political or scientific primers.
Currently I'm not in one of those grooves. Writing is difficult, the words come hard and I agonize over every sentence, unsure if that is what I mean to say. I force myself to post when I probably shouldn't and my reputation as a decent writer must suffer for it. Thank god for online quizzes, they give me something to post when I'm like this.
My current writing nadir annoys me because I feel like I have an audience now. When I first started, I could write for weeks without getting any sort of feedback. In the last few months I seem to have passed some kind of threshold and now it's rare when I don't get comments. This holds true even when I'm writing fairly inane stuff. I think this is the penny in the beggar bowl phenomenon - nobody wants to be the first to post a comment, but once somebody has made that leap, others will happily join in. I know several people who got Live Journals primarily to comment on my posts. I like being popular, I want it to continue. I even have a few secret readers. I'm curious as to who they are, whether they know (or knew) me, or if they came across me randomly or from a friend's page as I have done for so many others. I'm not so curious as to scare them off with demands for their identity, mostly because I've been known to anonymously read a few pages myself.
No offense taken...
Date: 2005-04-01 07:54 pm (UTC)I think most people have their "hot buttons" - those topics and areas of interest that inspire thought. I hadn't really given it a lot of thought previously. I tend to write at random about a topic and see where the muse of thought leads me - that it's coherent at all is somewhat surprising at times.
Oddly, one of the original reasons for me starting my 'blog was to record some of the more interesting conversations my brother and I were having, as well as a venue to put things for my parents to read. (My Dad's having a lot of trouble with hearing these days, and misses much of our Sunday AM conversations *sigh*)
- Grog
http://www.crystalgaze2.blogspot.com/