Blogging Fool

“Write what you know.”

Time and time again we hear this axiom – from books about the craft of writing a novel to bloggers making well into six figure incomes from their blogs, from Nashville lyricists to your eighth grade English teacher – write from your experience.

We seldom realize the value of our personal experiences because we are on the inside looking out, receiving the stories being transmitted by the throngs of others who now have this Genie who has escaped from the bottle we call the Internet and so think that somehow, in order to get in step we have to imitate or replicate their interests.

The truth is, when we write in general terms, we divorce ourselves from our greatest asset – our personal journey. No one, I mean NO ONE can live the life that you have lived, seen the things you have seen, and more importantly, perceived things and understood them the way that you do.

We are, every one of us, a unique experiment.

Some go so far as to essay we have an obligation to share our individual experiences for the benefit of the collective. Others put it more gently as I will: what you know is useful in a way that you yourself are incapable of truly understanding; what you have to say affords anyone who takes the time listen, a fresh perspective, a subtle insight that their own sense-making system could not have detected.

This is why feedback is so valuable; it is an echo that repeats what you said but in a slightly different way. By hearing what you said, as processed by an external entity, you not only better understand what you conveyed, but you hear it through that person’s own understanding and therefore get to turn the cube and see it from a new angle.

All of this to say – when you are looking for a subject to write about, start with what comes naturally to you: what interests you? What is your opinion of a product, idea, movement, person, place, approach, feeling, comment, song, fallacy, website, technique, skill, agenda, food, method, model, dream, book, application, mode of travel, timeline etc. Whatever it is you have to say is of value.

Start with what you know and someone out there will connect to it. Do this often enough and you will find that the very legacy of content you have created has a shape all unto itself. Stop falling over at the starting gun. Instead, leap forward and see what happens. “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” (and other cliches). “Courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.”

The internet is not in danger of running out of space.

Rather than copy and paste and link and repost and reblog – add something to the collective. Generate original data. It is your most valuable resource and it is not only valuable from an intellectual, artistic and spiritual perspective, it is also monetizable.

Dr. James Florida pointed out at the NAB show that the new Western GDP is founded on the resource generated by the Creative Class – yeah your brain. Your imagination. You incredible human intellect. The economy is not in a Recession – it is in a Reset as it adjusts to this actuality.

One you turn on the faucet, you will be amazed at how the river of ideas will burst forth.

One last thing – the beginner always feels (and is thus often stunted by) that they must include everything in their first outing – whether it is a book, a movie, a song. Don’t worry about squeezing every last bit into your first attempts at writing; that’s just your excitement. Start with something simple.

What do you think about the thing you are most interested in today.

When you have written some five hundred words (which will happen a lot faster than you think) stop and walk away. The beautiful thing is you can always come back to it and refine it, fine-tune it, perfect it. You have now created a document of your thoughts, ideas, and an expression of the unique experiment that you are. Now leave it for a day. When you come back, you will be that listener – witnessing that content as though for the first time.

And then you will realize just how interesting you really are.

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