Strains of I Am The Walrus by The Beatles (my favorite group), fill my ears as I write this. I rejected several ideas for posts today as nothing quite hit that sweet spot that you get when something inspires you.
I had originally planned to write one of my long-and-involved-two-thousand-word-plus epic posts, however the ideas that well-up from within were just "meh" so I dropped them.
I gotta feel it, and I wasn't today.
What I usually do before starting a new article is I'll checkout the New, Trending, and Hot lists on Hive just to see what people are banging out. Some good ideas came to me a few days ago, but with each one, I found that someone else had already written a great post about it and I didn't think the world needed two of them.
One was a KILLER article about a subject I wanted to tackle, but when I read it, I thought "Crap!" and had to let it go.
See, in some cases, I'll try and see if I can approach the topic from a new angle, deeper insight, or add a fresh take. But not with this one! The author was so good that he had that thing all buttoned up like the shirt of a new tuxedo.
So instead of skipping yet another day, I decided to write about the process of writing and not writing.
Part of the reason that I love Apple so much is that Steve Jobs imbued the company with a culture whereby he was a master at cutting things down to only what was necessary. The iPod was refined simplicity, and the same with the iPhone when it was released back in 2007.
Even today, their "competitors" still don't get it, and tend to pack their devices full of features that get lost in the mix. If Apple has a product in development and it isn't "Apple Ready" they shelve it until it is.
It's the same here on Hive. Am I adding value or inspiring someone with my post idea? If not, let's not publish just to publish. We have some beautiful parks nearby, and I love to take a walk through them, and I have a process that makes use of that quiet, peaceful environment for inspiration.
Writing: Like a Walk in the Park
Here's what I do.
I have several small lav mics that I attach to the neckline of my shirt. With phone in hand, I'll actually conduct a faux interview with myself as if I'm on Rogan. I'm usually in the remote sections of the park, and if anyone happens walks past me, they likely think I'm having a conversation with someone on the phone.
I used this technique when I wrote about falling overboard as well as the time I saved a fellow recruit in boot camp. When I arrive home, I'll re-listen to the parts that might hold promise, and then work them into my post.
With the boot camp one for instance, in the walk, I shared a lot of what was going on in my head during the incident. But once I got home, I cut a whole lot of that stuff out in order to keep the story moving along.
It made for much better reading.
If done right, it should read in a similar way that it was spoken. Now I don't do this with every post, just when I'm building an epic post, or get stuck with generating some new ideas on what to write about.
Often, my recordings would have made for an immersive podcast as opposed to an article, but I'm not ready for that. So I publish instead.
Most of the time the writing just POURS out of me, and I have to get it down before I lose it. There's a lot of start and stop during a writing session, and I have no problem walking away and doing something else until a new line or paragraph is born.
These posts that seem like one completed thing are actually several smaller sessions stitched together, and edited into one (hopefully) smooth-reading blog post.
If I can share one thing that will help a new blogger it's this; Make it fun, not work. If it starts to feel like a chore or a "job" something's wrong. While it can be a process at times, I love creating content where nothing existed before. Writing is enjoyable for me, and I wish the same for you. Now I've gotta go "walk out" my next Hive blog post. Goo-goo g'joob! :)
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