I started this blog a little over a year ago to catalog the trials and tribulations of a writer’s life and the search for a writing process. All the foibles and mistakes made while stumbling around as a newbie writer. But when it came to writing, the content took on a different tone, not for the better. Instead of an honest account of my experiences, it became a need for perfectly polished content. The desire to appear to have discovered writing wisdom like a literary truffle pig. That toxic aspect of the ‘influencer,’ side hustle, social media persona mentality. Blah. Let’s call a spade a spade. It was all ego. Uh. And I didn’t enjoy producing this content. It was a slog. And I love discussing the craft of writing. So I’m done with that. Time for a fresh start.
The last post detailed my breakup with Twitter after the new Head Twit and why I wanted to return to this blog and use it the way I’d always intended. To catalog a writer’s journey through all of the ups and downs and tangents. It’s not going to be perfect, and it’s not all going to be interesting (at least not for everyone), but it will be more authentic to the content I want to produce.
What does this mean? There will (hopefully) be more posts on everything within the writing space:
Writing process
Drafting, editing, submitting, querying, failing, succeeding(?), promoting. Not from an expert point of view, but to lay out what worked, what didn’t, and stuff still on the to-try list. All this proffered with the disclaimer: your mileage may vary. Besides, in the end, you can tell someone a thousand times not to touch the burner, but they damn sure will learn when they touch it themselves.
Book reviews and analysis
For years, I’ve written reviews of books on Goodreads and Audible and collected some of those on this website. Now, on this blog, I’ll take a more critical breakdown of recently read books. Pull apart writing craft, elements, language, and anything that stuck out to me or that I learned from the book. My wife hates discussing books with me because I love to analyze everything, and I need a place to put that energy.
Writer Resources
Links to other helpful content: blogs, podcasts, books, and social media sometimes. There is so much great content out there, and I want to help others find it.
The idea behind the fresh start is more content on a regular basis, but I am not committing to any set pattern (yeah, not suggestible from all the advice blogs, but you know what, real-life happens), at least not yet. And the blogs will be more freewheeling, less pompous, and more to the point.
Join me (or don’t); I’m just trying to carve out a tiny part of the internet to shout into the void.