Return of the Incredibly Inconsistent Blog
It has been, by my best count, about two and a half years since my last public blog post. I say public because in the meantime I have written exhaustively long Facebook posts to my agents in our private group. Some of these might make an appearance here over time. I have, as of late, been called back to writing for several reasons which, whether you care or not, I will share starting right now.
I Really Love to Write
I have missed taking an evening and just writing. Writing a blog post is more than just sitting down at a keyboard and pecking away. Anytime an agent asks me about blogging (usually because they donโt want to do the hard stuff in their business) I do my very best to talk them out of it. Itโs not an easy thing to do. More importantly, it takes a lot of time. Itโs not like you just sit down and start typing. You type and then you read. As you read you start to think that youโre a real dumbass. So, you go back and type more. Then more dumbassery, and so on.
Still, I love to sit down after the family has gone to bed and write. I donโt want you to be jealous of my Friday night, but it is currently 11:09 pm on a Friday and I am writing and on hold with GoDaddy to get WordPress added to this domain. What can I say, in addition to writing, I also clearly like to party.
Writing Allows Me to Clear My Head
You really donโt want to know what it is like inside my head. Itโs like Grand Central Station on a really busy day, all day, every day. It is impossible for me to slow my brain down. I have tried. Writing gives me the ability, while I am still thinking about the pancakes my wife promised to make me Sunday morning, to focus as much as I am able to on the topic I am making myself look like a dummbass writing about.
It’s therapeutic for me. I feel better after I write, even dumb stuff. In a world where people are after my attention all day, this gives me the ability to really just solve my own problems. Itโs weird. Iโm weird. Whatever.
Writing Allows Me to Be a Fake Creative
Iโve always thought of myself as relatively creative but without an outlet to express it. I canโt draw or paint. I canโt sing very well despite my best efforts. I canโt play a musical instrument. I am an amazing dancer after a liberal amount of alcohol though. What is frustrating is that I come from a long line of very talented artists, singers, and musicians. They got that. I got a receding hairline and gout. Thanks, genes.
When I write, though, I get to create in a way that is mine. I donโt know if that even makes sense, but you probably havenโt read this far anyway. So, I get to fake creativity by writing. I also like to cook, so that helps with creativity too.
Writing Helps Me LearnโฆAnd Teach
When I write, my ideas become more concrete. Itโs almost like I am taking an abstract idea from out of my head and putting a tangible, living, breathing version of it on the page. I should have led with that shit. Thatโs the best line of the whole post. Anyway, I can take the thought, put it on paper, shape it, reshape it, and get a better grip on what I, ultimately, will likely use to teach.
On that note, I also like to teach and have the good fortune of doing it fairly regularly. I am a very visual person, so writing also helps me visualize how I will teach something. Like it or not, when I write, I write conversationally, in a tone like I would actually say it in real life. Itโs probably wrong, but I donโt particularly care. I am more talking to me when I write than anyone else.
So, I guess if you want to come back here from time to time and read me talking to myself, letโs do this.
(For the record, I will be moving some of the old blog content over here, but it will happen slowly because I want to review and probably revise it. You know, because of all the dumbass things I probably said.)
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One response to “Why I Write”
[…] combined with what isn’t. I briefly, and unknowingly, described that process in this post about why I write. Writing allows me to take what is in my head and get it out into something tangible that I can […]