The Average Blog Today is Eleven Hundred and Thirteen Words
Starting this blog has been an interesting experience to me so far, even though it is relatively new. Why? Well, every type of writing has its challenges in one way or another. I am new to the format. I’ve always liked to jump off the cliff and into the freefall hoping to catch myself anyway, so I figured what the hell. I guess every creative does that on some level as we have seen through time. The working artist. Sometimes it’s mental health issues, sometimes it is substance abuse or food addiction just to name a few. People either feed the muse or stifle it in their own way. The muse is.
I started off this fine Sunday morning with a wake and bake, looking over the three blogs I wrote this week. Choosing which one of them I was going to make todays post. I decided to write something new of course !Let's talk about writing instead and started these words with the clickity-clack. I do not know if you have won by that decision yet. Certain things about writing fascinate me. I am imagining the same goes to you if you love to read certain types of genre, style or type or even by subject matter.
I started writing stories (longer than song lyrics) almost immediately in college, even though I had messed around with the idea here and there, mostly in comic book form or comedies starring the guys I hung around with nicknamed “The Bohemian Cowboys”. Being the storyteller of the group, I guess I was always writing. Most of it was improvisational. To be fair though, I had the best creative writing experience on tests! Essay questions in high school. Where the weak die and the creative kids get the extra credit. I mean I knew enough about random things that with a sprinkle of bullshit, throw in some facts and at least be entertaining while doing it. As long as I made the point I could get the points. Saving my ass from a failing grade many times.
When I discovered I was dyslexic I felt the need to challenge myself. I thought why not start writing. I had to force myself because it was needed for the job if I wanted to direct and tell my own stories, I would have to do that. That was thirty years ago. I now know why words don’t make sense, or they get jumbled up. Now I fully enjoy the writing process, but it was a struggle in the beginning. I had to learn a process that worked for me personally. Although I was writing Television scripts, marketing videos and local commercials, it's its own thing.. So, it was in an abstract way from traditional Dick and Jane type of writing everyone grows up with.
I was writing in screenplay format. Different focus. It includes technical details and drops he said she said. The length also varies from a 30 second spot (commercial to a five-minute shirt or a comedy sketch, maybe it is sitcom, animation or live action feature film. Within that you can specialize in many areas or work in a few). Like many others spent years toiling ideas and scripts, shows stolen and running for seventeen years with spin offs, career ending injury and the burnout that hit at the same time. A couple years later I left the thing that I loved and had kids that I love more.
I still wrote a script here and there. I wrote some children's books that I hope to put out before the grandkids come along. Tis just a matter of time people.
Writing scripts is nice and all but if it doesn’t get sold it doesn’t get seen or shared. Just because it doesn’t sell doesn’t mean its crap. Look at the dung they sell us now and have been. All the good stories and great characters are sitting on thousands of people's shelves and bookcases, waiting. The other thing is spending sometimes years on a project that loses steam or has made the rounds and is not fashionable to finance at the moment. There is always bullshit like that and why sometimes it takes ten years to get a film made and energy expended. Stories untold from many willing to tell. That bothered me and here I am.
Deciding to write books was basically taking others out of the equation. I have gotten close a few times to grabbing the thing that would enable me to do all the things. IT came down to other people's missteps costing me the attainment of my goals. I figured no one can get between me and my words. It if tanks, it’s all me. If it’s good, then the risk was worth it, and people are enjoying the words.
I moved to writing in book form after knowing I could up write one hundred twenty pages, but the story was always compact it felt. Then you add descriptors and now that script is at two hundred pages. I figured ok. I can write a book that length and that’s what I did. At the time I was modifying people's homes who were disables, or at end of life for maximum independence. I picked the subject of accessible homes and wrote that book, but it was nonfiction. Now, on to the next step.
When I started writing “in character” doing rants and they turned into chapters. What started out as a writing exercise while writing my first fiction novel turned into an entire book of its own. But it taught me something important. The rants were always based on one idea and that usually meant eight pages. I then knew if each chapter covered a few idea’s a 100,000-word book wasn’t out of reach at all. That project is finished and will be out next year.
Every format is its own thing. Blogging is a new thing for me. Comedy on social media is entirely different and most people have lost their sense of humor there anyway. Some people only write in 140 characters or less. Take a breath. It all comes down to telling a story, but it is done in different ways.
Even if you look at my merch you will see I am experimenting with using one word, maybe two. I may get wacky and go to three for the holidays, I don't know. Skipa dee doo.
The blog though let's me write on a normal schedule while I edit the latest project for release that in March of next year. I have a month or so of that left before I can get back to the writing project in process. This helps keep the wheels greased up so when I get back to longform writing I can get back to speed faster.
The average blog today is eleven hundred and thirteen words according to one statistic. Blogging is different than writing articles or essays. It’s basically getting what you need to say in it’s entirely in two pages or less. I want to find out if I can that as well. I know it will only help writing in other areas where I must be more precise and shorter winded. (I know right). To me it’s also about how it will impact my writing style. Will it stay the same and how will it improve and effect the other formats I write in? Follow this space if you are so interested. It’s free to hang out on the couch and the coffee is always on.
Enjoy the day!
V.