Lets Write!

Driving to the store for a new pair of jogging pants few days ago, I picked-up the Cleveland City Club Forum on the radio. David Pogue, personal-technology columnist for The New York Times was speaking about blogging and traditional journalism. He said something which got me thinking. He said the act of writing every-day, by being essentially ‘forced’ into blogging, was best way he was able to improve himself as a writer. When you have to do it, you constantly pay attention to everything in your daily life, looking for new topics. I suppose this desperate need for content combined with the process of constant mental composition needed complete a daily article, could greatly sharpen ones skills. Although I could use a buncha’ improvements in me writin’, I honestly hope I never find out.

Those unlucky few who stumble upon this site may noticed that I don’t post every day. Not even close. I’d like to say that I don’t believe in posting just to post: We should post when we actually have something of substance to say. Anything else is wasted disk space. And, that’s why I post so little.

Wait, I can’t use this as an excuse. I have tons of old info to post. A whole pile of zip disks-worth. Stupid Zip-disks..I shouldn’t have mentioned that.

Mr. Pogue’s statement struck me as it did, not because I disagree with it, but because of the potential I found in it. Imagine, become a better writer by writing more! I was entranced. Could this really work? If I really forced myself to type on this damn laptop everyday, this crap might become moderately readable? I suppose there’s limits to the system, though. If quantity was the holy grail of composition, we would have thousands of new Shakespeare’s housed in schizophrenic wings of the nation’s mental institutions. Regardless, the possibility was exciting.

I was torn. This strikes at my one big problem with the blog culture- the underlying expectation that a “true” blogger needs to post something everyday. I don’t understand the motivation. The web, and blogs specifically, are not a new toy that one feels compelled to play with everyday, for weeks on end, until boredom sets-in. Blogs are also not part of some corporate structure that requires deadlines. Under that sort of authoritarian self-scheduling (auto-authoritarian?), I think something is lost- the inherent novelty of putting one’s creativity into the written word.

And, I’m not talking about news. Yes, it’s new writing every day, but it isn’t creativity. If you’re reporting the news and being creative, you’re doing it wrong (or working for Comedy Central). If that means you sound like a BBC World News radio announcer all the time, so be it. When it comes to reporting facts, we could use a little more dry impartiality these days.

I digress. I love the idea of self-improvement, but I despise the act. I am fully aware that, sometime in the future, I may make the resolution to become a ‘post-a-day’er,’ beginning my journey towards an inevitable Pulitzer prize. WordPress has given me ample disk space to waste, so why should I care?

I must admit something here. As suddenly as my excitement began, it waned. The discussion in my head, as well as the trip to Wal-mart became moot. My 4-year-old jogging pants, a product of a similar, but long-past resolution, did not get worn out. You see, the moths had gotten to them. Some time ago, from the looks of them. Somehow, I’m not worried about this post-a-day thing ever becoming a problem.