Recently a friend of mine referenced this blog in a snarky reply on the big blue F in an attempted slight of it's purpose.
Ordinarily I dismiss such comments because of the source but in the days since the comment I have been thinking about it and in case anyone is wondering why I spend time doing the blog I figure that is a decent topic to blog about.
Document Of A Ridiculous Life has evolved in the 6 years I've had it way beyond the purpose it was intended. Originally I had intended it to be the vessel on which I would log a relationship that had hit stormy seas but when that fell apart it became something I would utilize to keep my writing abilities sharp. I believe it does that fairly well but it has evolved beyond even that.
Charles Schultz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts comic strip once said that though his job was artistic he didn't see it as at because of how simple it was to produce his comic strip. I don't remember his exact quote but he said something about how while an artistic painter spends hours, or perhaps days preparing his canvasses and choosing colors and visualizing his subject a cartoonist grabs a blank piece of paper and a pen or pencil and starts sketching.
That's how I approach things I write about here. Unless something really irks me, or something topical is goading me to react about it very rarely do I approach a blog entry with much preparation. I write that knowing it opens me to some ridicule but really the beauty of doing this is the simplicity.
The dividend of course is that I feel my journalistic writing has improved. I do battle with writers block on a daily basis much as an alcoholic battles the urge to get drunk on the creative end of the scale but by and large it's easy to manage. My procrastination does allow me to produce better than average work, I think, but I am still hundreds of miles away from being an actionable journalist faithful to the mechanics of the profession.
In the end though, as my age approaches the half-century mark I sense that the time is fatty approaching the time when writing might become the way I make a living. I still have a lot to learn but my name is recognized for the work I've done and that's all part of the game.
I honestly don't know what direction the Document will take moving forward.
The fact that it's read and joked about is satisfying, and as long as I have something to say I will continue to write.
Hopefully you will reciprocate by reading.
