This series is dedicated to the proposition that Blogging is a prime example of the saying "Variety is the Spice of Life".
So let's get to the good stuff!
This week I wish to welcome a new Blogger to the ranks!
Writer, and talk show host, Barbara Demarco-Barrett, has a website I've written about, called Pen on Fire ( named after her book of the same name ).
She is also an instructor at UC Irvine, and editor of The ASJA Monthly, and president of the Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Now she has ventured into Blogging, and several of her initial entries are must reading for writers, and bloggers in general.
Because of this her site, Blog on Fire, is this weeks sole recommended site.
She bills the site as containing:
Occasional ramblings about books, writing and life. Answers to questions raised by students and readers. Musings on the life of a writer. A discussion of the joys and challenges of the writing life. And whatever else comes up.
Links are provided, with my comments on what she has written.
She writes:
The question gave me pause. What a great question, actually. What motivates me, indeed! All writers at all stages of their writing careers have days--weeks, months, years even--when they feel unmotivated and find it hard to go on. It may be as simple as not knowing what to write or maybe what you're writing is boring you. We all have these moments and some last longer than others...
When you haven't yet sold your work, that's the hardest time to remain motivated. That's when having a writers group or even one writing buddy helps you stay on the writing path...
In my younger days, before I stopped writing in my late 20's, I was motivated to write by local issues, my comic books, and my love of Star Trek.
Letters to the editor, and private creative writing involving adding to the info found in a now out of print Star Trek reference book were my thing.
My pride was seeing the publication of an essay concerning the death of a favorite comic book character, and inclusion ( unpaid ) in The Best of Trek #15 by Signet.
For over a decade motivation disappeared, overwhelmed by the he difficulty of my life during the 90's.
Then I joined the computer age in 1999, and that eventually led to my becoming a Blogger in 2002.
The motivation to write returned and more importantly, so did the motivation for CREATIVE WRITING, and not just opinion essays.
The resulting short stories, and poetry can be found here.
The journalist within me was so motivated by the popularity of my opinion pieces here that I started a 2nd blog around my love of road Bicycling in 2003.
Finding motivation can often be a challenge, but, like she says you take it where ever you can find it, and the more the merrier.
Fear can be so debilitating. It stops us from doing things we'd love to do...
And fear makes us doubt ourselves...
It takes a crazy streak of optimism to be a writer--to be any type of artist, really.
And it takes a certain brand of fearlessness, realizing the fear is there and getting on the plane anyway, quitting the awful job anyway, pursuing the dream anyway...Use fear. Trust it. Go through it and you just may arrive where you want to go.
I know fear. Fear kept me from leaving a dead-end job of 17 years. Fear kept me from having a social life, even a minimal one. Fear kept me from considering a move to a new city, and environment.
Overcoming all those fears has opened up new possibilities for me that I am slowly attempting to explore.
7 years ago if you had told me I'd soon be online, be traveling to dinners in LA, a wedding in Phoenix, and a Labor day weekend in Chicago, with people I came to know through message boards I'd have laughed in your face.
If you'd told me I'd be publishing blogs, corresponding by e-mail with important, and even famous, people, writing fiction, and poetry, and attending events as an amateur "Journalist", and commentator, I'd have laughed some more.
Alone, un-married, and nearing 50 in a little over 5 years, I don't know where what I am doing will eventually take me, but it is a journey I am not afraid of taking.
3. Does Blogging make for less "Real" writing?
My student Jordan worries that now that I have a blog, I will be doing less "real" writing. This is interesting. Not long ago I cautioned students about blogs, for this very reason: "Watch out," I said. "You may find yourself blogging more and writing less." So I appreciate my student's worry.
Yet, what I've found is that in these few short days since I started my blog, I've actually been writing more--maybe as a reaction to the fear that blogging might mean less real writing.
Blogging does so much for ones writing, and its developement, if you allow it to do so.
The essays, reporting, stories, and personal writing found on blogs is a testament to the intellectual strength of people all over the world.
Some folks earn a living doing it, or have begun paid writing careers because of their blogging.
Some, like me, have opened up their lives to new possibilites, through their blogging.
Admittedly there are people so obsessed with blogging that they let it rule their lives, but they are not in the majority.
Most folks know how to balance their blogging, and "writing" times, and balance their blogging and "I have a life" time to the benefits of both.
Based on the above essays a thoughtful new voice has been added to the mix, so visit her often, and join the discusions her writing inspires.
She can be found at Blog on Fire.
The next edition of this series will appear on the 19th.
I've decided that the best time to present this ongoing series is on my days off. Without the pressure of last minute planning I can spend time planning, and putting together, a quality entry.
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