What?! Two posts in one week where there is not a sequel involved? I know, my readers, I know; it's shocking. But I learned a couple of things over the past few days that I think is rather relevant to this blog.
First, I discovered a new blog, The Typewriter Monkey Task Force. Just as quirky as its title, this blog covers a variety of subjects in very fun and interesting ways. I mean, its subtitle is "Faith, Writing, Video Games, Literature, Life, the Universe, and Everything." That's a lot of stuff if you ask me. But it's not really the subject matter than struck me. Well, it kind of was and kind of wasn't. What I'm trying to say, and rather unsuccessfully at that, is that reading his blog, looking at his posts showed me that not everything that ends up here doesn't have to be some great work, or even partial work at that, but can just give my thoughts on things or share something that I found amusing. Granted, that's the way he chose to write his blog, and that not all blogs function in this way. However, for me, this was really freeing. It meant I didn't always have to have some great, edifying purpose behind my postings; they could be as simple as repeating a joke or musing on a conversation. I think I'd like to try that sometime.
Second, I bought a new book, 642 Things To Write About. While out shopping with my mom at Barnes &Noble, I made an impulse purchase of this particular beauty as I was literally about to go to the register to make several ... other ... purchases. *ahem* Anyways, there were two things that I found intriguing about this little book. The first thing was the fact that there are literally six hundred forty-two different writing prompts, in other words, two years worth of ideas should you choose to do a different prompt every day. And the range of the suggestions is fantastic. They can be as serious as relating your most embarrassing moment as if it happened to someone else or as silly as giving a pep talk to a dying plant. With this new tool, I have felt inspired to try new things, things I haven't even thought of before. My last post is the result of one of the exercises asking what can happen in a second. The other cool thing about this book is its creation; it came to be in a 24-hour period as a result of the brainstorming of the San Francisco Writer's Grotto, a modern day Inklings if you like. What this showed me is that 1) a writing community is an amazing thing and I should find one and 2) that not every idea I have for writing needs to be something spectacular or best-seller worthy; it can be silly.
And thus, I may be making a few changes to my routine and quality of posting based on my recent findings but I hope they will be for the better.
I'm glad you liked Typewriter Monkey Task Force. I've enjoyed writing it, thanks largely to that freedom to write about whatever I want. This means my blog consists largely of geeky nonsense, of course, but it also means I haven't run out of ideas or enthusiasm for it.
ReplyDeleteI think there are good things to be said for both approaches to blogging. A focused approach builds self-discipline and draws a particular audience; an unfocused approach (like mine) is easier to maintain and more likely to surprised readers or introduce them to new things.
I agree that each has its advantages but, knowing me, I'd do better with an unfocused approach as I'm not always sure what to take especial time and write about. However, all I'd really thought of doing was a very focused approach so it was good for me to see that there are other approaches to writing. So thank you for opening my eyes to more possibilities. :)
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