Lift Foot; Insert Into Mouth

Ah, my old friend procrastination. We meet again.

The truth is, I've had a busy week. So I have an excuse. But at the same time, I also had time to write. So there goes my excuse. But on the other hand, I have been writing. Bonus points for me. But again, I haven't posted a blog. There goes my points.

Confused yet? I am.

In reality, I actually have written on my blog, you just haven't seen it. I have several drafts, and several ideas for posts, but they haven't come to fruition just yet. They're still blossoming, but will hopefully be up here for all to see soon enough. Another problem I've been running into is that, I have about four different projects I want/need to write for, and when it comes to the totem pole of importance, my blog is the lowest on the list. But I've churned out about 20 pages of material overall in the last week, so, I figure, that's not too bad.

For now, though, I'll just talk a little bit about writing. Obviously (or perhaps not so obviously with how quiet I've been), I love writing. I've been writing stories, songs, poems, papers, what have you, all for many years now. But writing's not just something you can pull out of thin air. Okay, sometimes it is, but good writing takes more time and thought process.

Writing is more than just assembling linguistic characters on a page with correct spacing and punctuation so it makes sense. Writing (mostly creative writing, but even essays and the like follow suit) is a pouring out of the writer's soul; his ideas, his worldview, his musings. His hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses. And so on. It has meaning. A lot of meaning for the writer. Especially if it's in any sort of public presentation, like a blog, or a song for a band, or a book. 

Writing also takes inspiration. At least for me it does, but I'm fairly sure that I'm not an anomaly here. Sure, I can force myself to write, but it's usually not great, and it's slow-going as can be. When I'm inspired, I can whip out 10 pages an hour easy. Sometimes I have to force myself to write to get inspired, but natural inspiration is the best way to go.

But you'll never get anywhere if you wait for the mood to strike. You'll never get anything done. And that's something I've been learning the hard way. I have to sit myself down, open a document, close my internet browser, and pray there's no distractions for the next half hour while I get the creative juices flowing.

In the end, though, writing is always enjoyable. At least for me. It can be frustrating when the words won't come, but it's always a good experience, and it's the greatest feeling in the world when you finish a piece of writing. You feel like you've accomplished something, and it's one more step in the right direction, one more piece of work for your portfolio, one more achievement that puts you one more step ahead of the other writers who haven't accomplished what you've accomplished.

However, where would any type of art be without an audience? Just like with music, art, acting, or any other type of performance or art, writing only feels really completed once it's been shared with and enjoyed by others. Completing a blog post helps me get something off my mind, and give me a little feeling of accomplishment, but what's better than both of those is when I know that at least one person has read, understood, and either enjoyed, or found useful, my writings. And that's what ultimately keeps me going. I think that's what keeps any writer going. Because after a while, doing it for yourself just isn't a strong enough motivation. We need someone to appreciate, and even criticize, our work.

So, thank you for sticking with me (those of you who've read this far, I'm talking to you), and I dearly hope to be more affluent in my blog posts as we go.

-Micah McFarland