And of course, I started writing about ‘writing’, and got pigeon-holed as a 'writing about writing' guy.
Recently I read a post on Kristen Lamb’s Blog (Forgive me, I cannot find the link) about this very subject. It was unforgiving, and all true; writing about writing is a crutch. It finally convinced me that I had to stop. The reason? It was always a last resort when I couldn’t think of something else to post; It became too easy to dash them off. There are already billions of writing sites – all saying the same stuff, only better. And I got the feeling that my friends were getting tired of the endless babble and shop-talk about the craft, which left non-writers out of the conversation.
Write about writing, and only writers will read it. Maybe. Possibly. They have their own stuff to worry about – without taking writing lessons from yours truly.
As for friends and non-writers, they ask me about my blog all the time, and I always have to preface it by saying ‘Here it is, but it’s mostly about writing.’ A blank stare ensues. I’ve tried to ‘repurpose’ it, but the damn thing is called ‘The Writer’s Den!’
So here we are. I’m not going to shut down the Writer’s Den, or stop posting there completely, but I am starting anew; this blog you are reading, cleverly titled Bloggo David (A play on the Irish-inspired ‘Blog ‘O David’) for instance, will be my new home. I’ll post a variety of things here, including my own cartoons, memes I want to share, guest posts, anything that drifts through my transom. For what is a blog but an expression of one’s inner soul?
You won’t find writing posts here – that will be reserved for The Writer’s Den. Truthfully, it gets harder and harder to ‘write about writing’, so the future in that regard is fuzzy. I hope you’ll all hop aboard and stay with me here. For, without you, there is no David Hunter, the writer.
I have to go now – the place is a mess. There are all kinds of things to fix around here. Stop by anytime, comment, or just relax and enjoy. Mi casa est su casa. Or something like that.
Ah, this rings so true! It's one of the best excuses ever not to write, isn't it? Because writing about writing is kind of writing, after all? Isn't it? Kind of?
ReplyDeleteI understand completely. When writing about writing for Writer's Digest, I started to write true stories. I found the only way I could continue was to make it personal.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing what you do here. Love the way it looks.
It's nice to do it once in a while, but doing it every week on a blog got old, and of course it was an excuse for not writing the OTHER stuff, the fiction, because fiction is hard, and writing about writing is easy. So much so that I was opting to do articles about writing rather than anything else. A crutch I can do without.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thank you for the kind words, Darrelyn! I worked hard on that banner. =)
ReplyDelete