DRYING OUT THE POWDER.

It's been - see below - a long time since I posted. A few kind friends have mentioned that they liked this blog and hoped I would write more and then I finished On Writing by Stephen King and felt like I should put some words down again.

It's an inspiring, pretension free book. I'm not much of a fan of his novels but he has useful advice on how to commit to writing. As you may imagine its a very workman approach. Hours a day. Get rid of TV. Approach it like an athlete's training.

I don't doubt the veracity of King's assertions but advice like that always makes me annoyed, which is truly just a mask for my guilt. Guilt that I'm not doing enough.

There are many reasons I am not a -howyousay - good writer. Foremost is that the work has always been such a grind for me. Like the comedian Paul F. Tompkins said: "having written something is the best but Writing is a torture."

But as I read On Writing and started to think about myself as an amateur scribbler I learned something that might make it less of a torture and perhaps open me up to write more and ideally improve.

I've put too much pressure on making anything - even a tweet - worth reading. I need to redact less. Get looser and perambulate more and maybe I can make something that is enjoyable to finish a bit more enjoyable to do.

So I think this blog will take a turn. I might retire some of the more polished essay posts and turn this into a rougher writing journal in the hopes of finding the discipline to write longer pieces and keep a consistent schedule.

One may make the point that I don't need to do this publicly. That a writing journal is best kept in a journal. But I'm trying to back up what I say and now that the three of you that read this blog are privy I have some accountability.

Not sure what will happen but hopefully my forthcoming meandering musings will found the worthwhile. And be a little more frequent.

Wish me luck.