The whole idea of a blog is to provide a running commentary on your life or a certain subject. You’re trying to give whoever wants to read it brief bursts of personal information and opinions. But it seems as if I’ve had trouble with the “running” and “personal” and “brief” parts of that equation.
Posting everyday is just not option. If blogging were my job, then I would be able to happily finish several entries per day. But instead I must wake early in the morning, commute, work at a computer all day in uncreative endeavors, and then rush off for my return commute. Finding quiet time to write has always been a challenge.
The personal side is also tough. I have no problems revealing intimate details of my past (as with publishing excerpts from my old journals), but I tend to guard the here and now very closely. Recently I’ve gone through a break-up and have moved out on my own, but I have no interest in elaborating on either. Maybe that’s because I’m always looking for perspective. Current personal events are very volatile, and although you might feel a certain way today . . . tomorrow’s thoughts and emotions can be the polar opposite.
As for being brief, I guess that goes back to the fact that I don’t blog everyday. When I actually sit down and start to write and get the words flowing, it is pure enjoyment. I sort of zone-out and the hours pass quickly . . . especially with a few glasses of wine or beer. Even when I’m posting my old journals, I have to do a lot of editing to make them shorter.
But now that I’m going to have a lot more alone time, I plan on writing more often. I’ll probably still be guarded with the private details, but I want to start offering up more opinions and descriptions of what is happening around me. I will attempt to be more like a newspaper columnist (in the tradition of Mike Barnicle or Carl Hiassen). And I’m definitely going to limit the number of words in each blog entry (under 400 with this one), because the bulk of my writing time is going to be spent working on my new novel.
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3 comments:
Let's hope that you can stay away from the Mike Barnicle "making stuff up as you go", although, I rather enjoy the stories you tell, true or not. Write on my dear friend, write on.
Thanks, Dan. Yes . . . I do not want to start stealing from George Carlin. But even though Barnicle did that, I still think The Globe should rehire him. Other than the sports columnists, there isn't anybody you look forward to reading in those pages anymore.
Isn't that so true. I remember working at UNO's and getting the paper, and just pulling out the local section and seeing Mike Barnicle's columns made my day. I think that's the time that I started reading the Globe for more than the Comics, and Peter Gammons.
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