Writing Whys

There are times, like today, when I can't seem to find something to write about. It isn't that I lack an idea: it's that I have an abundance of them. But instead of latching on to one of them and firing away (or doing some additional research and cogitating), I flit and skip between one idea and another, rejecting all for immediate and instinctive reasons that add up to Not interested.

For that, ultimately, is the bottom line: Am I interested enough to write about it? Fellow bloggers know how hard it is to come up with content on a regular basis. And even though I'm a Jenius, there are times--like today--when clacking out the words seems more like an exhausting trek through a barren wasteland than the usual romp in a meadow.

I have written on a fairly wide variety of topics, from economics, politics and sociology to productivity, business and technology and even beyond. I have hundreds of bookmarks, text snippets and launch points (phrases or angles I'd like to use) in several files, ready to go. And yet, for once, I don't want to use any of it. I simply want to write about not writing.

Maybe I feel less passionate today about...everything. Or maybe I'm too rested, or too comfortable or even too uninformed to generate a spark for blogging flame. I would say it doesn't matter--but it does. For without that spark, there is no point in writing.

Unless I feel compelled to write, nothing else matters. You can agree or disagree with Me, but there has to be something to agree or disagree with. If I break down My blog posts into functions, I am either trying to enlighten, educate, excoriate or entertain; hopefully, I can hit two or more of those functions every time. In any case, I can't carry out those functuions to the standard I hold Myself unless I do it with some measure of passion and take pride in the end result.

And that is where this post is leading...or where it ended up. Passion, the energizing need or motivation to do something and pride, the standard of effort one is willing to make to achieve the result one is willing to feel satisfaction for. Unless there's a strong motivation there can be no true pride in the process and result, at least for Me. Pride could be the motivator, but in My case--in this case--it isn't. I simply used today's lassitude to explore why I write and ended up uncovering obvious, but not necessarily, self-evident factors for why I want to write. And like many explorations, it's funny how what you find leads to other explorations.

I don't have an ending for this post, for it is, in fact, a beginning.


The Jenius Has Spoken.