Unwriting

Rarely have I written so much, yet published so little on this blog.

Strange.

But I think this happens more as one matures as a writer in the internet space. There are many things to consider when you write here: your tone, a desire to avoid duplication of topics, and the need to provide variety while remaining authoritative (or at least interesting). But as this blog reaches further, a strange self-imposed tacit responsibilty has emerged for me: that of staying original.

Increasingly I find more and more people on the internet become "link experts." Links provide the catalyst for topics, I suppose. Maybe this helps us all sustain our tenure in this space. Twitter, in particular, facilitates snippets of commentary attached to a link allowing instant feedback gratification but does little to allow a lengthy discussion to emerge. These links are also exceptionally transient, since the basis of the "tweet" is often linked momentarily to another person's thought, idea, concept, or video. And then it's gone.

Blog writing is slightly more static, but as any blog writer knows, it is still the frequency of publication that drives reader traffic provided, of course, that the content warrants the readership. Certainly there are periods of time for "writer's block" where ideas fail to come to one's mind. But there are also times where a myriad of brilliant thoughts are penned in haste. There's a point to be made, a story to tell, for goodness sake, don't lose it!

What I'm learning as a blogger is that there are times when the author must step back from their words and reflect. Is this an appropriate story to tell? Is it told correctly? Are there enough references? Can I really say that? More often than not for whatever reason, the author is unhappy with what he's written. He looks again at his brilliance but must accept the obvious: the piece should be "unwritten" and never published. I must have an entire library of unwritten works that have never made it to the publish key. Were they a waste of time? Not really. I learn from these mistakes.

But I'm also learning that if these ideas and prose weren't okay then, they probably won't be okay in the future. But for us writers, hope springs eternal. It is very hard to surrender your "babies" to the delete key. Still, a healthy filter must take precedence.

So forgive my lack of blog posting this week.

But for the first time I can honestly say that I think that the blog-o-sphere is better because of my brillance at the unwritten unpublished word.

-Wes