This blog almost starts out with an excuse. “There’s a quote I wanted to begin this with, but I don’t have it with me right now. I should probably wait until I have it.” But in this case, I’ve gotten lucky. Whatever alchemical, metaphysical, magic mumbo jumbo that needs to happen in order for me to sit down and write, I’ve managed to crack it today.
But, if I’m really being honest—and that’s one of the guiding principles for this endeavor—this blog did start out with an excuse. It started out with a lot of excuses. “Too tired.” “No time.” “Do I really want to be a writer?” “I can’t, I just can’t today.”
I’ve been beaten by every one of these excuses, and a hundred more. And as I sit and write this, I don’t have the confidence yet to say that I can keep this blog going. Will I give in to an excuse again? Absolutely. Wouldn’t bet against it. But will the days I spend writing start to outnumber the ones I spend excusing myself? I hope so. But we’ll see.
Like most good initiatives—exercise, eating right, sleeping enough—my efforts at writing have been characterized, more than anything else, by starts and stops. Today is a start. It comes on the heels of the holidays (it’s January 29th, 2015 as I write the first draft of this), having the flu over New Year’s, and planning and executing a proposal (I got engaged on January 17th). Admittedly, “the holidays” are a bit of a hackneyed excuse. But the flu is pretty good, right? That thing really knocked me on my ass. And how about proposing? First time I’ve used that one. Points for novelty!
But regardless of whether or not I have “good excuses” (is there such a thing?), the fact remains that I stopped. Again. For what feels like the millionth time. And that’s what brings me to this blog.
I spend a lot of time in my head. So I’ve done of lot of planning to write. I’ve come up with a TON of theories—about what works, about what doesn’t. But there is only one time, after years of trying, that I managed to write every day for one consecutive month—and that month was over a year ago. So my theories are still just that, theories.
But I hope some of them will turn into practices. Practices followed by a professional—or rather—by a happy, diligent writer. While a driving force behind my effort to write is a desire to not have to go into an office every day (unless that office is in my house) and to actually make a living writing, one of my theories is that my brain is out of shape, and if nothing else, writing every day will be some damn good exercise.
I could, of course, skip writing this blog. I could wait to see if things work out for me and, if they do, give some great interviews about how it took years to find my footing, but here’s what finally worked for me! Or, I could catalogue my efforts, as they happen, without the kind fog of memory sanding the edges off of everything. Let’s go with the latter. It sounds like more fun.
So Dear Reader, be excited. You could be reading the blog of a man who flames out, right here on this page! This could end abruptly and simply, with no new postings after a month, or two months, or hell, after this one. Or it could end with an epic diatribe, where I flagellate myself all over the good internets about how awful I am, and how I just could not make writing work.
Hopefully, I can avoid those two outcomes for something decidedly more positive. But still! It’s always good to build in some suspense.
I’d like to be a writer. I’d like to be a paid writer. I’d like to be a paid writer who makes a good living just doing my own writing. But what I’d LOVE, what would make me happy, I theorize, is to stick with this, and show myself that it’s something I can do. I’d love to take away one of the bats I use to beat myself upside the head with when I’m feeling down (or up). And hopefully, I’ll manage to write some cool stories along the way.
So welcome! I’ll do my best to make this blog a place to come back to. Whether it’s worth coming back to is something I’ll leave up to you, but at the very least, I’ll work to make sure new content is waiting here if you do.
I’ll actually do you one better. I’ll do my best to make this a place you can come back to every week, with a new post waiting every time.
See you in a week!