Blogged Arteries: Getting the Inspiration to Flow

                        


        I have high cholesterol.  I take Pravachol daily and have since November, 2009.  I cut down on eating red meat, eat more low fat foods, and walk 18 holes of golf at least once a week.  And it seems to work.  My bad cholesterol is dropping.  It's simple: eat less red meat and other fatty foods, exercise and take my pill.

        I wish my blogging experience was as simple to manage.  When I began this blog on Christmas Eve, 2009, I believed that writing a blog was a lonely, solitary existence--like any kind of writing.  But it isn't.  I began to read other bloggers, and it wasn't too long before I developed long-distance relationships with bloggers in Missouri, Connecticut and even other countries.  Through comments and responses to comments, I came to know not just bloggers but my readers, and it has been an eye-opening experience for me.  I find that there are a whole lot of readers out there who like reading the same kind of writing that I do.  I feel a part of something larger than what I can experience within my own local population, through my own circle of family and friends.

        Recently, however, I've noticed a recession in bloggers.  Some have just downsized by writing less; others have discontinued their blog.  I understand what happens, because I've experienced it myself. 

        I set personal goals for myself and I don't always succeed.  But I only stress if I didn't work at meeting the goal.  I decided early that I needed to write my blog at least three times a week if I was going to keep the blood (Inspiration) flowing.  But the Plaque of Real Life sometimes builds up in the channels of my day and, like cholesterol, hardens and won't let the Inspiration flow.  Inspiration for ideas; inspiration for how to express them.

        I know over the weekend that come Monday I have to have an idea and find time to execute the idea by setting time aside to write my blog.  On Tuesday, I know I have 24 hours before I will have to tap into something to say and then find a way to entertain, enlighten or educate. It's not easy--as anyone who has attempted this will attest.   Between postings, I'm thinking, looking for ideas.  Sometimes I just sit and ask myself questions:

        1.  What about writing is difficult for me?
        2.  What used to be confusing about my writing?
        3.  What makes my writing better?
        4.  What haven't I written about?
        5.  What bugs the heck out of me about other's writing?
        6.  What inspires me?
        7.  How can I educate new writers about the writing life?
        
        Or I might Google keywords:  suspense in writing; writing style; tense shift; semi-colon; writing well.  There are other blogs for writers, like Writers Edge, where in reading it I get my own ideas for things I'd like to write about.  Sometimes I take a topic that a zillion other writers have written about and make it my own, using my own research, experience and judgment, and then, if it's appropriate,  I personalize it with my own style of humor (or lack thereof).

         Since coming up with three new ideas a week is difficult, I encouraged contributors who could fill a day's posting occasionally.   I began posting a chapter every Friday from my completed (but still in the editing stages) novel, The Plunge, and that has lessened my stress to come up with something new for a while.  And, other than a few occasions where I missed on a Monday or Wednesday and had to write my blog on a Tuesday or Thursday, I've managed to keep on track of writing my blog three times a week.  Even on Fridays, I have to read my chapter, sometimes edit and correct errors, re-write a sentence or two, so I may be avoiding using Inspiration for an idea, but I'm still "working" the writing muscles.

        But there are days that I wish they made a pill like Pravachol for ridding my artistic arteries of unwanted Real Life.  Real Life constricts the flow of Inspiration, but I've learned that the best way to open the flow is to just WRITE and USE REAL LIFE and always think of the Reader.  I've made the decision to do this and, by gum, I'm going to do it.  And it's good for my writing.  Writing this blog is like keeping in physical shape.  It has to be a lifestyle choice.  If I don't "work out" on Wednesday and just say, "Well, I'll get back on track next week," I know myself well enough that I will likely start enjoying not having to work at this, and then I'll find a reason not to work at it all, and then I'll be writing this:

            Dear Readers of The American Writer,
 
            I've run out of ideas, time and inclination.  It was great while it lasted.  I have succumbed to Real Life and will have 
            to discontinue this exercise in creating something from nothing three times a week, because my muscles hurt, I hate
            the smell of sweat in the morning, and the routine is boring the heck out of me.
        
        I don't want to write that letter for one good reason: I get more out of this than any of my readers.  These workouts three times a week keep my writing healthy.  You, Dear Reader, are like Pravachol.  You give me another way to be inspired, to make my way to that exercise machine--my computer.  So please help me stay artistically fit and keep reading and letting me know what you think.  
Posted by Tom Eubanks at 8/30/2010 10:07 AM
Categories: Inspiration and Perspiration, General Blogging
Tags: Working It Out of the Shoot Inspiration
 

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