I have unwillingly accepted that there is a difference between writing and blogging.  Even though I understand the distinction and have from the outset, I have never wanted to be a blogger.  I have unwisely considered it a crude form of thinking out loud, and many of us don’t need to be sharing what we think.

My interest has always been in consistent thinking and well argued and defended ideas.  This is sort of counterintuitive to the notion of blogging.  Of course, I’m trying not to sound like a jerk here but I like my writing to be finished and polished and, what’s that new word: impactful?  I never thought I could do that in a blog, which is why I have not posted consistently on this site.  I have the need for perfection and ought to be far enough down the road to know that I can never achieve anything even remotedly close.  I think I read somewhere that “perfection is the enemy of done.”  Sometimes done is all you need or want.

Just as an example, I’ve been working on a piece about Iran and trying to provide context for my own thinking as much as any reader’s.  But I can’t get it to have that flow and rhythm that good writing possesses.  My sentences stumble and fade and and I don’t think I sufficiently engage the reader.  Iran’s present predicament is directly connected to our country’s behavior there over the past 60 years and yet I haven’t been able to write that in a fashion that emotionally connects people to this fact.

But I have written much of the article.  I just don’t like it.  And it makes me think I need to blog more than I write.  There is always something to say or think and it needs to come out, even if it is ragged and the prose has a kind of Wal-Mart quality.  I don’t know if I can commit to blogging or writing every day but I intend to try.  I’m not a full-time writer; I am a communications consultant and making a living is more important than writing but I cannot imagine my life without writing. I’ve got no shortage of stories to tell and ought to tell them whether I can make them shine or not.  I need to try.

So, I will.  This occurred to me today as I was driving across an ancient ocean bottom that comprises the south plains of Texas and the High Plains of Northern New Mexico.  My brain races with dreams and notions and words whenever I am able to go west and all of the stories get stirred up and start wanting to come out and I think they can’t because I’ve got payng work to do.  But I’m going to work harder at writing, even though my priority is my consulting work.  My posts won’t shine the way I want them to but I will post and I hope what I write will be worth reading

But I’ve got a big presentation tomorrow so can this post count for Monday, too?

1 Comment for this entry:

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  Mike Jasper
  June 23rd, 2009 on 1:52 pm

  Only one thing worse than bloggers. The people who leave comments for bloggers.