When I started down this road, about 3 months back, I can honestly say I was a different tiger entirely from the slavering beast that now sits facing my laptop screen.
Back then I was full of wonder, hope and was known on occasion to fart rainbows. Being a blogger has changed all that and I’m all the better for it.
One of the biggest problems writers face is that they are far too over-critical of their own work, often to their own detriment. In a way this is a good thing because otherwise just about anyone who could wield a sentence would be out there, guns blazin’, firing off a whole load of codswallop (love that word, say it with me, codswallop) and defending it with the time-honoured cop out, ‘Well like this is just my opinion you suck.’
Oh wait… I think I just described the internet…
But anyway, my point here is writers are precious. They’re a quiet and secluded bunch who hang out in dark corners at parties scribbling mostly unintelligible purple prose on cocktail napkins only to leave two hours later, blind drunk and alone.
And it is for this reason that I would encourage any wannabe writer to start blogging. Blogging is the single best way to a) Find your voice as a writer and b) Interact directly with your audience.
Think about what a difference this simple function of blogging would have made in the lives of millions of struggling writers throughout history. It’s an incredible moment when you fly right out there, post the most crazy-assed shit you can possibly muster, and instead of being greeted by general disapproval and criticism, receive positive comments from complete strangers who understand 100% where you’re coming from.
Of course, there is the other side of the coin where you post what you firmly believe is an excellent post, worth of some kind of literary award, and some fucking mouth-breather who doesn’t even understand the basic rules of sentence construction and punctuation jumps in there and in his best rhetoric responds with, ‘YOUR A TURD!!!! LMFAO, PWNED!’
This too is a good thing, because if nothing else, it should serve as a reminder that you are far better than these people in every conceivable way. Don’t climb in there and throw shit back at them, you’ll only get your hands dirty.
Three months ago a negative or overly critical comment felt like a death-blow to me. The voice that speaks to me inside my head (that sounds like Humphrey Bogart) would read the comment over and over again to the point of obsession. Then I would go out, get good and drunk and punch the first person who looked at me funny.
It was a crash course in growing the fuck up and I’m glad I went through it. Now when I write something that sparks off a few dozen comments about what a jerk I am, I really enjoy it.
It means that I’ve shaken people up and that’s never a bad thing. You gotta love the haters because they shout louder than anyone else out there on the interwebs and get you famous twice as fast.
It’s a sad fact of life but notoriety sells because, like they used to teach us back in Journ 101, if it bleeds, it leads.
And to quote one of my favourite movies of all time:
“This is blood for blood and by the gallon. These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They’re back! There’s no choice left. And I’m ready for war.†– Marv, Sin City.
Words to live by 😉
-ST
