I am an aspiring writer. My goal is to remove the "aspiring" from that self-prescribed moniker and get some real writing done, a fairly silly statement coming from a person who is writing a blog, I know. It is a fairly well-known fact that blogs are one of the most devastatingly effective time and productivity suckers in the known universe, aside from Wikipedia article hopping, Facebook and Seinfeld reruns. Taking into account the fact that the average person spends roughly one-third of his life sleeping and probably another third (or more likely some larger fraction, depending on the person) doing a wide and ranging assortment of things he'd rather not do, including but not limited to sitting in traffic, teeth brushing, evacuating body waste, paying bills, working, dealing with stupid people, breaking things, fixing things, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Once all of Life's taxation is extracted, the tiny sliver of net time a person still has, the stuff he uses to chase dreams, find love, have fun, fornicate, create and relax becomes indescribably important. Time is—literally and metaphorically—money.
So why then, would blogging be a useful expenditure of a hopeful writer's time? Honestly, I'm still trying to convince myself that it is. My reasoning revolves around the frustratingly dense creative stagnation I've found myself in for...let's just say it's been long enough so that the only things I seem able to write are beginnings. No middles. No ends. Just hopeful little roads that branch off from my porch and promptly drop off into their own, private abysses. Despite the geographical ridiculousness of there being multiple bottomless chasms all grouped together within the same metaphorical neighborhood, the problem is a miserable one, and I have become desperate for a solution, thus bringing me to the point of my rambling.
I have always read that writing exercises are good ways to polish and refine a person's writing style and jumpstart a stalling creative engine, but have always run into the same problem when beginning a writing exercise I've encountered when beginning full writing projects: I'm all beginnings. Recently, I thought back to creative writing classes I've had, during which I have been shockingly productive, and realized the reason for those brief patches of creative fertility is the combination of due date and expectant teacher. I need accountability. So, the reason I am choosing to spend my ever-precious net time on tossing meandering blog entries out into the void of this seemingly endless series of tubes is to get my brain working again. Starting a blog holds me accountable to the handful of imaginary readers I've invented for the purpose, and forces my brain to think creatively.
I will write a blog entry about a different subject every day. I will make a definitive point on each subject-of-the-day in a form that lends itself to the material. During this process, I will use many of said forms, such as various poetry types, playwriting, journal entry, short stories and anything else that comes to mind. If you happen upon my little corner of the internet, take a look if you like. You might find something to think about, laugh at, get angry over or just shake your head in sad bewilderment at. Regardless, garnering an audience of readers isn't a major concern in this endeavor; I just want to learn to write again.
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