“What do you like to write about? “

Whenever I tell people that I have a blog, or that I want to be a writer, that’s usually the first question they ask. Well, that or “Really? You think you’re that good?”. Very supportive cast, I know.

Most recently, NaNoWriMo has everyone talking about their progress or ideas for novel writing, and it’s inspired me to take action as well. Instead of attempting a masterpiece of fiction that I was reasonably certain I would not complete, I put out an offer to guest-post on anyone’s blog, thinking it might be particularly helpful to those making their own NaNo attempts,

Right away I received responses asking me what I want to write about. So far I don’t have an answer.

I mean, I previously wrote about the blogs I read, and what that says about me. I’ve written about my interests, but that’s just my wanting to say something and hopefully you not beeing too awfully bored with it.

True, I have certain topics that I write about more frequently (movies, comic-books, dude stuff) or more passionately (urbanism, neighborhoods, sports), but given an entirely blank page, what would I choose to fill it with? Especially if I was given only one chance.

::yes, feel free to queue the Eminem music now::

See, the thing is, I usually write about whatever seems interesting to me in that moment. If something is irritating me, or inspiring me, or confusing me, I’ll write about it to figure it out. It’s not a math problem, I don’t have to know the answer, but I do like to show my work.

Back in January I made myself a list of things I wanted to improve with this site in 2010. The top of that list was items like:

more regular features (failed)
more community (nope, not making good progress there)
don’t be afraid of long posts
more relevant

Well, hopefully I’m doing pretty good on that last one, otherwise I need to go back and kick my own ass for being a slacker this year.

However, never once did I tell myself that I wanted to become a topical blog, mostly because I know that I like to talk about anything under the sun, and limiting myself here only seemed like it would lead to having to create separate blogs for each topic I wanted to contribute to.

I guess, a lot like this blog overall, my post today doesn’t really have a topic, other than to be a mea culpa. Yes, I ramble. Yes, I’m random. Yes, I tend to find an idea and work on it right away, then not go back to it. But hopefully at least I’ve entertained and maybe inspired people along the way as well.

What's in a name?

Not long ago this blog used to be called “Random & Awesome”, and was merely a collection of things I thought looked cool, and the occasional rant from me.

Then as I got more into “blogging”, or writing in general, I realized that “random” and “awesome” weren’t words that made people want to return, and certainly didn’t encourage someone to check back regularly, or subscribe, because who knew if they’d even like whatever came up next.

Of course, I took me a while to figure out that I should want to attract to me because of what/how I write, not attract them to my writing because of what/who I am.  I was probably confused because once I’m hooked on an author, I like to read everything they’ve written.  I suppose I made the bridge to the author and glossed over the reality that said bridge was built upon an already successful reading experience.

But, I digress….

So, a while back I decided “Random  & Awesome” was not the name I wanted to continue with, but I couldn’t think up anything else.  Thus “This Blog Needs a New Name”.

I really meant for this to only be a place-holder title while I thought up something fresh & catchy & attention-grabbing.  However, that process has taken a lot longer than I’d imagined it would.

So fast-forward to multiple conversations I’ve had over the last few months.  Whenever someone asks me for the name of my blog, so they can look it up, I sort of sheepishly reply “Well, right now it’s called ‘This Blog Needs a New Name'”, and they almost universally reply with “…oh…”.

Obviously that’s not the type of response I like to elicit, but I don’t blame them.  I’ve really been slacking on this title thing.

I think the straw that broke the lazy camel’s back came the other morning when I met some fantastic folks for coffee, and in the midst of giving me great advice about pursuing a career in writing, I was asked what the name of my blog was, and I what I write about.

Well, the “what I write about” was pretty easy to spin, and discuss what I enjoy writing about and what sort of role I thought I could fill.  But there, starting at me, was that damned question “what’s your blog called so I can look it up”.  Damn, I wish I’d thought up a great name right there, on the spot.  Then I could have just logged in from my phone and changed it and it’d all be legit.  But alas, I was not that clever at the time….

So, here I am, on my Sunday morning, drinking coffee, trying to force creativity that even my subconscious mind couldn’t work out of the last few months.

Any help?

Believe

Way back when, I started blogging not because I thought people wanted to read what I had to say, but because I wanted to document what I had to say, because I was going through a time of a lot of changes and didn’t always know a constructive outlet to express how I felt about things.

I’d always thought I was a creative writer growing up, and recall with great esteem my triumphant moment when I got an A+ on my essay 5 Reasons Every Girl Should Date Ryan G.  So, if I could do it then, why not now?

Of course, at that time, I thought I had brilliant ideas, but I look back on them and realize that my ideas were pretty typical for a young, angsty adult.  Hopefully they were a bit more eloquent than most, but still typical nonetheless.

Then after my life became less of a whirlwind, my blogging desire waned and I started just using my blog as a place to record things I thought were funny or cool.

Shortly after that, I started talking to a few other people who blogged, and realized that I was quickly becoming known as the “funny picture/video guy“.  Whoa, whoa!  That is NOT a title I wanted.

I like being funny, but I have a serious side here, too. Crap, now I have to pull of a Robin Williams/Jim Carey Funny/Serious duality thing…

So around the holidays I decided to take up the mantle of trying to see what I could produce if I really wanted to use my blog as a tool/platform for my writing.

Of course, a big part of writing is knowing what others are writing about, knowing what’s relevant, what’s been rehashed too much already, and what can be elaborated on without being dull.  To that end, I started reading a lot more blogs on various topics I had an interest in.

The outcome; I’ve learned more about things I never knew I felt this passionately about, and have profited by having an increased understanding of many topics.

I’m certain that several of my posts about urbanism or vibrant neighborhoods would not exist if I hadn’t started this whole process 4 months ago, because back then I wasn’t even sure how to answer when people said “you really like living downtown?”

So while I’m very clear that I’m far from a skilled writer yet, I know that I’m a much better thinker because of the exercise of writing and reading to be able to write.

I know I’m not a great writer yet, but I’ll get there.  I believe it.

(This is Day 19 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge, be sure to check out the other participants at #30DayBC)

Random Admission

I recently told someone that I want to become a writer.  In truth, that’s only one of a handful of things I wish I was.  Regretably, though, when inspiration strikes and I think I’m on the verge of “The Great American Novel”, it turns out that I can write two pages of great dialogue…… and nothing more.

Random Admission

I admire people who can write in, what I call for lack of a better term, long form. My brain always edits things down; can’t help but cut to the chase. This is probably why I just want to succeed and move on to the next thing.

Then again, maybe it’s not my brain, maybe it’s my self-consciousness thinking “nobody wants to see the middle steps, get on with it before you bore them”.