Ideas
One of my readers had looked over the archived columns. He noticed that on average there are about seven to eight columns a month going back now almost a year. He remarked to me that he was amazed at the fact that I could find enough material to write that many. (I hope I paraphrased him correctly.)
Actually there is another year and a half worth of material that I wrote before I went to Blogspot, so my archive is a bit more that what you see at the side of the page. It does look impressive even to me.
To be fair though, I must admit there are a few "duplicates". The holiday columns, for instance, are on the same topic. I usually write one on my birthday and another on our anniversary.
His comment reminded me of something I read in Ben Bradlee's book 'A Good Life'. He mentions an Style Section editor named Jim Triutt. Mr. Bradlee had casually asked once, "Where the hell are all the ideas?" In reply Mr. Truitt sat in front of a typewriter for 47 hours making a list of over 1,000 story ideas. I have not even approached that number yet.
It is an interesting question to ponder though. Where do I get topics to write about? I'm lucky. This is not a political column or something that is limited to one subject area like cars or fashion. That means I get ideas from everywhere.
I do mean everywhere. I have written about something that happened in a grocery store, a talk I heard at an LDS General Conference, something that happened at work or something I thought of driving home from Toastmasters. I wrote tributes to my cousin, two cats that died and my late father-in-law, Mr. Warren. I talked about my fear of driving over the Lafayette Bridge, Carrie's high school graduation and Jake and Mariah's wedding.
Most people enjoy what I've written, a few have got me into some hot water with friends of mine. I'm glad that they tell me because it makes me think about what I've written. Sometimes I realise that I what I wrote was not really what I meant. My mother wrote a very good quote in a book she and my Dad gave me. It's by David Hare, "The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe." This is very true especially when I write an opinion about something.
It's not always easy. Sometimes I write something and decide I don't like it. I wrote a column after C and I had an argument talking about how we each handle anger differently. I never posted it.
Sometimes despite the fact that there is a world of ideas out there nothing sounds good to me. It's like being hungry, looking in the fridge and not finding anything you want to eat. Unlike food, I can't go to the idea store and buy one to go. I wrote a column about the names of nail polish once when I couldn't think of anything to write about. That one got deleted too.
When I started to do this I decided that I was going to write something every week and each weekend that I had off work. Even though this is voluntary, I still felt is was important to give it the same effort that I would if it were a paying job. I try to put out the best I can every time.
I looked over the archive file once. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, I think I've done pretty well so far and I'm not even close to done yet.
Actually there is another year and a half worth of material that I wrote before I went to Blogspot, so my archive is a bit more that what you see at the side of the page. It does look impressive even to me.
To be fair though, I must admit there are a few "duplicates". The holiday columns, for instance, are on the same topic. I usually write one on my birthday and another on our anniversary.
His comment reminded me of something I read in Ben Bradlee's book 'A Good Life'. He mentions an Style Section editor named Jim Triutt. Mr. Bradlee had casually asked once, "Where the hell are all the ideas?" In reply Mr. Truitt sat in front of a typewriter for 47 hours making a list of over 1,000 story ideas. I have not even approached that number yet.
It is an interesting question to ponder though. Where do I get topics to write about? I'm lucky. This is not a political column or something that is limited to one subject area like cars or fashion. That means I get ideas from everywhere.
I do mean everywhere. I have written about something that happened in a grocery store, a talk I heard at an LDS General Conference, something that happened at work or something I thought of driving home from Toastmasters. I wrote tributes to my cousin, two cats that died and my late father-in-law, Mr. Warren. I talked about my fear of driving over the Lafayette Bridge, Carrie's high school graduation and Jake and Mariah's wedding.
Most people enjoy what I've written, a few have got me into some hot water with friends of mine. I'm glad that they tell me because it makes me think about what I've written. Sometimes I realise that I what I wrote was not really what I meant. My mother wrote a very good quote in a book she and my Dad gave me. It's by David Hare, "The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe." This is very true especially when I write an opinion about something.
It's not always easy. Sometimes I write something and decide I don't like it. I wrote a column after C and I had an argument talking about how we each handle anger differently. I never posted it.
Sometimes despite the fact that there is a world of ideas out there nothing sounds good to me. It's like being hungry, looking in the fridge and not finding anything you want to eat. Unlike food, I can't go to the idea store and buy one to go. I wrote a column about the names of nail polish once when I couldn't think of anything to write about. That one got deleted too.
When I started to do this I decided that I was going to write something every week and each weekend that I had off work. Even though this is voluntary, I still felt is was important to give it the same effort that I would if it were a paying job. I try to put out the best I can every time.
I looked over the archive file once. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, I think I've done pretty well so far and I'm not even close to done yet.
Garrison Keilor said the same thing about not knowing what you believe about a subject until you sit down to write about it. Probably one of the most difficult parts about writing..
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