On Writing Online
I’ve been like a cricket in midsummer hopping all over the place with nary a rhyme or reason. I’ve been struggling to keep pace with the demands of multiple posts a week, and I’d lost my way.
Trouble is, I’m not that good of a writer on first draft. Nor on second, either. I struggle to get it right, to put things in order on the screen, to capture something of what is and my back is up against it.
Start parenthesis. (Then, too, there’s the medium. One step removed from pen and paper. (Of contemplation, then the act of right hand writing while left hand holds down the paper, reflection, jotting an errant yet perhaps meaningful thought lower down the page, reflection, another sentence and so on.) I haven’t even touched on the distractions inherent online.) End Parenthesis.
It’s been tiring, this battle with writing well. What once came flowing out of me was now a mere trickle. I’d lost my voice. I found myself twaddling, like now.
This is, conservatively speaking, driving me nuts!
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I should just let go, I’m thinking. Take a deep breath…let it out.
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So much of my time past was wound up pretty tight. I hated the incomplete in my life, all little things, mind you, nonetheless matters of some concern to me. The dripping faucet needing a washer, the cracked and sinking patio needing mud jacking, weathered aluminum siding needing paint, weeds in planting beds needing a tug, rusting paint cans in a corner of the basement needing retirement.
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For me, writing on the subject at hand, and in order to contain the surprise that initially delighted me, the logic needs to come after the fact, with the insight right up front. As in life, if you thrust the logic in front of you as you head out the door, hurtling experience ahead to pave the walk, then you invariably lose the revelation that informs that day. The writing of a post, like that proverbial walk, can be worked on once it is, but first and foremost it cannot be worried into being.
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There. This will simply have to do. My house in the burbs has become my bride, and she’s got her own honey-do list if there’s to be any peace around here. First up, a jig opening up some paint cans for drying. Then, I’ll waltz over to the hardware store for washers of various sizes. I’ll dance attention on her all afternoon, but she’ll have to sit out and wait for warmer weather before being treated to a new coat and pumps.