I almost didn’t post a blog today. I had several ideas, all of them bad. And it’s the idea that’s the most difficult part of being a writer. Once an experienced writer gets a great idea, the words spill out like too much water overflowing a cup.
But this week, I had nothing. It’s not that there’s nothing interesting going on. We are preparing for a long trip. My doctor and I are trying to get to the bottom of my problems with balance. (Those funny falls I’ve taken haven’t been as funny as I’d hoped!) And there’s the usual life stuff.
As our friend Carol who died last week liked to say, “Life gets lifey”.
I scheduled several things to publish here and then realized there were problems with each one.
- Was a draft that I’d already published some time ago. Yikes.
- Was too derivative of something I’ve written about before.
- Was a cop-out.
A Blog Post About Nothing, Continues
I suppose you could say that writing about not having anything to write about is a cop-out, too. But I don’t think so. Bloggers and other content creators who churn out material seem to do it without effort. But there’s plenty of effort involved. The aforementioned idea, for starters. In my case, trying to write it well, as opposed to recording or making a film. Battling imposter syndrome. (Who am I to talk about this?) And the lists go on.
My goodness, I love to write. My high school ring has a journalism insignia on it. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. My novel-to-be, my first real attempt at fiction, is in its eighth draft. One day, when it’s released to the world, it will be the realization of my oldest goal. No, that’s not true. My oldest goal was to marry one of the Osmond brothers. Sometimes one’s goals need a tweak!
So, it’s not that I don’t want to create something brilliant in this space today. It’s that I don’t have the mental bandwidth to make it happen. There’s too much else going on in my tiny brain, what with all the 1970s song lyrics and other clutter taking up space. It’s nothing extraordinary or unusual. It’s just life. It gets lifey sometimes.
Lifey is good. Gives you a break, it’s a distraction and lets you step back so you can see the forest and not just the trees.
Wait a minute. You wanted to marry “one of” the Osmond brothers? Not Donny specifically? What the hey???
I thought I would marry Merrill. There was less competition for him!
He’s no Virl Osmond . . .
Unpopular opinion here but I think you’ll share it: Merrill had THE best rock and roll voice and was less reedy and more gritty than Donny. It’s been documented that he resented the spotlight being put on the Purple One, but who could resist that amount of CUTE? I couldn’t. But yeah, Merrill. And ALAN! Wayne or Jay (even Jimmy) I’d take if I had to. But no one asked.
As for a Blog About Nothing, I feel ya, sister! I spend half of my week asking Rob “what am I going to write about this weekend?” and it really is a thing. Sometimes the motion of typing makes my brain spark – something to do with reflexology or muscle memory. But not giving up, like so many do – blogging, podcasts, any sort of “extra” work – is what we do best. Keep at it. And just think of the stories you’ll have when you get home from your three week trip of a lifetime. Can you imagine radio bosses giving you three weeks off without it including a severed contract? Hallelujah! Talk to you on the next 3 upcoming Gracefully & Frankly episodes, which as you know we’ve done 3x the usual work finding favourite bits and then talking around them/updating them, too. It’s what we do!!!!!
Sincere condolences going out to you on the passing of your friend, Carol.
“Life gets lifey” is a good quote to replace my usual “it is what it is”.
So often I wonder how a writer can come up with topics to discuss. Whether it’s a short post or a lengthier blog, I’m always curious as to what prompted the subject.Â
I have a problem trying to figure out a single sentence that would be of interest to anyone when thinking about updating my social media page. I guess that explains why I’m not a journalist.
Your honesty here today made for a good read, Lisa. I’m pretty, pretty, pretty sure Larry David would agree!