Blogging

Where To Find That Fountain Of Endless Ideas

/ markmkane / 2 Comments

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I know I’ve broached the subject on what to blog or not blog before, but I just can’t seem to let it go.  So please forgive me if I sound like a broken record. 

Being a writer, I’ve always made it a point to write often and consistently; it’s the only way that we as writers get better at our craft.  When I’m writing a screenplay, I just seem to have an endless supply of ideas…a flash flood of thoughts just inundate my brain and there is no barrier to quell it.  But that’s a good problem to have in that instance.

In the case of my blog site though, I tend to hit a road block week after week.  You’d think that after two years of having this site I’d be a pro by now, but that isn’t the case.  I’m one of the unfortunate ones that just doesn’t have a niche.

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I hate to say this but I’m quite envious (more like jealous) of the blog sites that I follow.  They all seem to have found their “voice” and are excelling at making their site exceptionally well thought out.  Their writing is intriguing and holds me emotionally; I actually become invested into what they have to say. 

Day after day, week after week, their vast array of topics are fresh, interesting and sometimes unconventional; it’s like they have an unlimited amount of ideas to choose from at their disposal.  Sigh…I wish that I could be like them…they’re my idols.

For me to come up with a topic on my blog site is somewhat excruciating.  I never really know what I’m going to write until the day before, and even then it’s not the best of topics sometimes.

You might say, “Then why do you have to write something every week?  Why don’t you write once a month?  Or why don’t you write when you have something relevant to say?”

I can answer all those questions in one simple answer – I’m a writer…plain and simple.  I have to write on a consistent basis to get better at my craft.  I’m not the most eloquent, artistic, humorous or intelligent of writers but I love what I do nonetheless.     Idea7

This sense of freedom; getting into a Zen-like state where you pen “heart” to paper and let it loose upon the internet masses. This is what I enjoy the most.

So I guess I’ll never crack this dilemma of the conception for new weekly blog ideas.  Maybe that’s good thing, who knows.  All I know is that I’m still here sitting at my desk…writing…because “I am a writer.”Idea8

Let Your “Inner Voice Shine Through

/ markmkane / Leave a comment

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In my opinion, one of the best things about being a writer is showcasing our inner voice through our pieces of prose to the world.  Our writing style, our choice of words and our descriptive passages all reflect our artistic expression hidden deep within.  inner6

Everyone’s writing style is unique; it can be eloquent, serious, humorous, wordy, concise or simple.  The fact that we get our point across to any and all readers, in whatever fashion our voice dictates, is truly amazing.  AND the painstaking years that it took just to get us comfortable in writing is a feat in itself.  AND the tremendous courage it takes to put forth our laborious effort for strangers to read.  inner7

That’s why I enjoy reading other people’s work; I love the fact that they took the time to share something that was on their mind.  I’m able to get a semblance of their personality through their choice of topics and words.  It’s like meeting a stranger and getting to know them through their writing.  The more I read, the more I become familiar with them.  inner3

We as writers share a piece of our soul in the hopes of bringing to view something that we feel has value and get a sense of self-satisfaction from doing so.  Our reasons for exhibiting our work can be therapeutic, informative or for entertainment.

I’ve known a couple of writers, however, that were quite hesitant to impart their work for public viewing for fear of crucifying comments or lack of praise.  They toiled over their piece but found it difficult to take it to the next step; in the end, they abandoned their desire for writing.  It was a sad loss because I felt that they had something of quality that was worth sharing.

inner1We need to lose all inhibitions and accept the fact that there will be some people that’ll like what we write and others that’ll hate it.  It all comes with the territory of our craft and shouldn’t be a factor in deterring our passion for writing.

The joy we get from putting pen to paper,  the dedication to honing our craft, the anticipation of producing something substantial from a mere thought and the gratification from seeing the final product are qualities that strengthen our passion.  In the end, our devotion to writing should outweigh all reactions, whether it be good or bad.  So let loose, face your fears, WRITE and let your “Inner Voice”shine through.

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Our “Special” Gift

/ markmkane / 9 Comments

I always marvel at the fact that we, as writers, can conjure up practically anything we desire with our writing.  We come up with the most creative stories, the most enticing screenplays, the most eloquent poetry and the most humorous prose.

 No two stories, poems, blog posts or screenplays are alike.  Yes they may have the same idea or premise but the way it is executed on page and presented to the reader is very individualistic.  Our inner voice comes through our choice of words and how we arrange them and the reader is fortunate to choose which voice he or she best relates to.aa8

 We really have a gift if you think about it and we choose to share it with others in hopes of educating them, inspiring them, entertaining them and even provoking critical thought among them.  Our passion has no bounds.

 The world, our experiences, our family, our friends and random conversation overheard is our muse.  We get a spark and it gestates in our subconscious mind until it is ready to flow freely onto our computer screens.

AND some of the stuff that we come up with is totally mind-boggling.  As writers, we choose to ignore the plausible and go with what our inner voice is screaming at us to write.  Just imagine if we put limitations on ourselves and our creativity, you know how boring our concepts would be.

 Every day I thank God that I’m able to write something that at least someone, somewhere would enjoy reading.  I might not be the most creative, eloquent or concise writer but I write how I feel and that’s all that truly matters; I think that this is the common thread that is prevalent among all of my fellow peers.

 Writing is our craft, our voice…and our desire to share it with the world regardless of the outcome is admirable don’t you think. aa4

 When I started as a writer, I came across a poem that really spoke to me.  Unfortunately it was written anonymously and I lost my only copy of it.  But I remembered a portion from that particular poem that I took to heart and I want to share it with all of my fellow writing colleagues – all you screenwriters, poets, bloggers, story tellers:

 “Writing is a gift

given to few,

Don’t ever give it up

or you won’t be you”

A Writing Dry Spell

/ markmkane / Leave a comment

Did you ever have those times when you had a dry spell with your writing?  Whether it be for your blog, script, story, essay, correspondence letter or note to a friend, your mind’s well was empty.  No topics are in play, no words come to mind, things just don’t flow freely from pen to paper so to speak.

It’s like you struggle just to get a cohesive sentence together; every brain cell is squeezed to spew out the words needed to bring forth a sentence.  AND the kicker is that it’s really not what you want to convey.  You just put something down for the sake of having something substantial to work from.dry1

All of us as writers hit this dry spell throughout our careers, it’s inevitable and just plain sucks.  During these times I just don’t feel like a writer and I truly feel as if I failed.  Don’t know why, but I just do.

 “Why does this have to happen?!”   

Our minds are capable of doing and creating so much more…so why is it that our minds fail us?  Is it just a way of our brain telling us that it’s going on a short vacation so we can’t write until it gets back?

What do we do in the meantime?  How do we continue on with our craft if our mind isn’t cooperating?  Not writing anything makes me feel empty and having to endure this drought is challenging.  Often during times like these is when I start to worry…has my mind’s well of creativity gone dry?  Will I ever come up with another idea or story ever again? dry9

So many questions with no immediate answers.  My confidence gets put through the ringer and then some.  But luckily for me, I’ve been through this rodeo and I know that I just need to ride out the storm.

My mind eventually regains its composure and my creativity resets itself.  My brain becomes cognizant of all the new ideas and stories and starts to file them in my intellectual storage file; the amount of information is so overwhelming that I’m faced with another dilemma…which story to work on first, too little time to get all this stuff out and words constantly oozing out just begging to be put on page. 

Guess that’s a better situation to be in than a writing dry spell but either way I’ll gladly endure both as long as my passion for writing remains constant.

What to blog or what not to blog…that is the question

/ markmkane / 2 Comments

I’m not too sure if other bloggers encounter this dilemma but I go through this week after week.  Granted some bloggers write every two weeks, once a month or every couple of months while other write on a daily basis.  For me, I try to blog about something at least once a week; guess it’s the writer in me that needs to do this on a consistent basis.  I’m sure that all of us go through this, just trying to figure out what to blog or what not to blog about.

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 Some people specifically have an area of expertise or subject matter that can yield tons and tons of topics to cover, I unfortunately am not the case.  After a year of blogging, you’d think I’d have a host of things to talk about but that’s not the case. 

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 I think for me the main struggle is in figuring out what to say or what not say.  A couple of instances, I got an idea and soon realized that I blogged about it in a previous post.  Other times when the well ran dry and I ended up grasping for straws on a topic; it felt like I put in half the effort on something that should’ve required 110%.  I never realized the dilemma I’m in week after week; it’s harder that working on a screenplay.

 Okay, it’s not the worst place to be in but I always like to try and blog about something that’s interesting.  I’ve perused other sites and I’ve noticed that they’ve constantly posted stuff that’s cool and mind-blowing.  How do they do that?!  Do they even have that problem of deciding what to write about?!  Now if I could only do the same, guess not all of us are gifted in that aspect.    

If I could only get into their mindset when they’re preparing to blog then maybe I could get a perspective on how I could go about doing my blog.  Life would be much simpler.  BUT, that’s not the case for me.  Nothing ever comes easy and I accept that. 

 Maybe what to blog or what not to blog is not the question I should be asking myself, instead it should be “Do I enjoy blogging?” or “Is it worth my time?”  As you can see from this post, it’s an emphatic – YES!

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To Blog or Not To Blog

/ markmkane / Leave a comment

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With my one year anniversary of have a blog site coming up, I looked back and wondered what would’ve been if I didn’t start this venture.

Before I started all of this, I had a few misconceptions about bloggers.  The three things that stuck out were: ONE – it was easy to create a site, TWO – everyone was doing it to become famous and THREE – you needed to be an expert on a subject to post things about.

I strongly resisted the urge to be a part of this because I thought that I’d be wasting my time that should otherwise be devoted to my screenwriting craft.

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For years I continued to pursue my dreams and had forgotten all about blogging.  One fateful day my manager, who’s VERY social media savvy, recommended that I create a blog site and put myself out there and promote myself and my stories.

“Oh great…GRRR…do I really have to do this!?” I thought with disgust.  I procrastinated in starting this new journey and was making all kinds of excuses in my head as to why I’ll never enjoy this.

Apprehension was always in the background when I started to do research on how to start a blog site.  I engrossed myself in any and all available info that was accessible; soon that hesitation started to diminish and a sense of wonderment and encouragement set in.

The thought that “You know what, I really think I can do this” popped into my brain and my mindset was that I was now “ALL IN.”

When I first started, I thought that I was going to have my site up in a couple of hours and would be posting on it soon after.

Boy was I wrong.  Creating a blog site was not easy and creating one that would fit my needs was even more daunting.  It took a couple of months to get it to suit my needs but it still is a work in progress.

Once I got my site up and running, the next step was posting to it.  What was I going to write?  How long should it be?  What if no one likes it?  All these thoughts and more started to creep in and anxiety set in.  Damn…whatever I write will be out there for all to see; that was a scary feeling.

Despite all my fears, I “manned up” and published my first post.  That wasn’t so bad.  A week after that I posted another story on something mundane.  The following week it was a random post about my kids.

I started reading all the other bloggers out there and was surprised (and relieved) at what I found.  My fellow bloggers were posting about a lot of things: their experiences, historical accounts, traveling, writing, pets, friends, foods, anything and everything.

It was amazing to see the cornucopia of topics bloggers everywhere talked about.  Some of the writing were eloquent, while others were simple and straightforward; it was quite refreshing reading all of this.

Some wrote to just get things off their chest, while others wrote in hopes of helping others; I connected with people whom I never me all because of their posting.  I connected with people whom I never met all because of their posts.  It was truly AMAZING!

The more I wrote, the more I felt comfortable.  When I got my first “LIKE” and “Comment”, I was ecstatic to the point where I jumped off my chair and danced around like a giddy child on Christmas day.

This encouraged me to continue on and write on subjects that I would never even think of.  I ventured into other types of writing that even helped my style of writing. 

“What was I so afraid of?” I thought.  Fast track to a year later, my mindset now is “I should’ve started blogging years ago.” 

For anyone that is thinking about starting a blog, all I can say is “GO FOR IT!”  It’s a way to get yourself out there and share what you have to offer to others.  You’ll be interested to find that there are others that share your same dreams, feelings, experiences, passion and humor.

Don’t be afraid.  The only question that you should ask yourself is whether…”To Blog or Not To Blog.”

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