I walk down the street, I lie in the bath, and they come flooding in. So, to maintain interest and give my reader or two a chance to shape my output (in keeping with our 2.0 world) I've decided to write about what I'm thinking of writing about. You can now express a preference for what should come next! Read on.
There's also a healthy tension between trying to keep the posts light and generally accessible, and trying to put on paper stuff that's important to me and that, rather sweetly, I feel my kids should know about, if they're ever to understand me! Ah! But even this shouldn't get too introspective, I guess.
In the safe assumption that guidance will be pretty sparse and sporadic, if at all, my plan is to produce a time-line next! I have my collection of scribbled A4 note-books, starting nine years ago; at some point I can start quarrying those. So, I guess my post hands-on-journalism world can be chronicled in some detail. But there's quite a lot before that!
Unlike my brother I don't feel much need to write as such. There is no novel bursting to get out, though, perhaps more like my father, I am quite keen to put down on paper what I've done and seen and thought over the years. So in that context, I've had the idea before that I should think of the chapter headings I might come up with, if I ever did write such a personal history. (Not sure yet how different this would be from the time-line.)
For many years I've squirreled away interesting snippets and sifting through them now, I can see patterns and connections that were not so clear before. There's lots about DCFC of course; legion examples of journalism under threat (as reflected in my dissertation).
Then there's the subversion of social and "third world" development by blinkered capitalist zealots (and look at the hell-hole they've/we've created!); crazy revelations I've had (eg we each have two kinds of brain!); lots more idiosyncratic opinions on health issues; and sex (though they'll be kept safely behind lock and password). Of course, I have views (and experiences) from the Middle East and my interaction with Islam and the Arab world; as well as growing my own food and also building my own house.
More personally, I need to write an apology to Natasha; I am keen to muse more about the importance of having a sense of purpose; about the logical impossibility of having regrets (if you're broadly happy with who you are!); about winning consumer battles in this day and age (with examples and trophies!); I'm a gigantic fan of John Stuart Mill, and his cauldron of ideas; as well as Bob Dylan and blind Willie McTell; I need to explain more about Frits, who helped me release the handbrake, and Ammar who provided the means to move forward; and about women, and children, and friends.
On top of this, I want to explore the techniques for writing about almost nothing for 400 to 800 words and making it fun and interesting. And I guess lurking deep down is the conceit that one day someone will stumble across these self-indulgent ramblings and decide they need a wider audience.
But that, of course, has been one of my many problems -- thinking that the answer/the way forward will somehow come from outside me!! Which I guess is part of the reason I've decided to impose this discipline of more or less daily writing on myself (there are three blogs, not just this one!). And it's a great way to live out the important cliche, don't let the best be the enemy of the good! Just get on with it. Do it! (rather than agonise over how to do it better).
The other two blogs are:
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