Going to start the new year the same way I did 366 days ago with an attempt to write every day. That attempt failed, although I think I made it as far as March or so. I do recall being desperate to find a good wifi connection when I was in Puerto Rico so I could submit my “words” to 750words.com. So I made it last three months, I think. That’s not bad- I mean, to do at least that, I still have to start today. So here goes.
94 words down. And now 99. 100. Damn, this is easy.
I’ve been trying to prepare for this– during the week break last week I went to Starbucks and the library and other places with free wifi, and my new Chromebook, and did lots of writing. You know, to sort of have a buffer ready so that publishing could be consistent if output wasn’t always a daily accomplishment. Because, you know, simply stabbing at the keyboard for half an hour doesn’t mean what’s being written is worth reading. Like this for example.
186 words. 188. Flying along.
The plan is to write fiction, write opinion pieces, write about running, write some book reviews. The book reviews are the easiest and the hardest. Hard because what does one say about a book. Easy because I read all the time. I mean I want to read all the time. I mean I want to want to read all the time, and I want it to be that I read all the time. There you go, that’s what I meant to say.
The running writing is tough because there’s not much to say except I love it I love it I love it. Hard to write what I know will only be barely interesting to other runners…. I mean it will only be barely interesting, and in that, only to other runners, not that it would be, to others runners, only barely interesting. You see what I’m up against here, this writing thing? I can’t even make sense to myself. Sheesh. 353 words now.
And opinion pieces– home skillet please. I have opinions, to be sure, but how does one make them topical? Or interesting to other people? That’s what I’m up against, with all of these, that truly stupid compulsion to be interesting to readers, except that means walking the fine line between preaching to the choir and saying something convincing. It’s next to impossible.
And honestly it’s not an endeavored to be labored over too strenuously. One should just write for writing’s sake. One does not run only races, and one may try to train on every run, but will get benefits from a run that’s just a run for run’s sake. And since my goal is to write every day, it doesn’t matter if no one ever reads it. In fact, on most does, no one should. So I should just stab at the keys and if a little structure to get things going helps, so be it.
I’ll write about running, I’ll write silly stories, I will write about my opinion. For example: we just watched a movie, called Abducted, I think, starring Taylor Lautner. Not sure if I am getting the name of the movie correct or even the spelling of his name. It was truly bad. He had his shirt off within the first few minutes. Is that why they called it “Ab”ducted? Maybe. It was mentioned to us by a friend of a friend at a new year’s eve party, and at the time we were excited to make new friends. Now I’m not so sure.
Then again, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to stop being a prick about what people like, to not only accept, to embrace, to humble myself before people’s likes. Not just their passions, but the incidental things they enjoy. So maybe this was serendipity, seeing this terrible, terrible moved, a chance to practice this resolution. I’ll have to give it a go when next we see that person.
But, just between you and me, the movie was so bad it wasn’t even so bad it was good. It wasn’t beyond bad, just bad. 709 words written so far, 714, less than 50 to go, and now less than 30.
I guess I could apply this idea to myself, to quite being so judgmental of my one desire to write, of the potential output and it’s lack of readability or value, and just, as I said, do it. Like Nike wants me to. Which reminds me of running– I didn’t run today. 2013 is off to an awful start. 783 words, now. One day down, 364 to go.