Blog No. 146
Here we are on another Thursday and I have another Blog post to do. This week was one of those weeks where I totally forgot that the blog existed until Tuesday then I fumbled around for an idea ultimately not coming up with anything good. The sad part is (as it usually the case) I remember coming up with an idea last week, then promptly forgetting it because I was doing something else, or couldn’t be bothered to write it down. Now I’m here, writing this, not really sure where I’m going with it. Who knows what that means (I hope good). We’ll have to hand on for the ride and see where the heck I take us.
Normally, when I sit down to write the weekly blog, I think back over what I’ve done in the past week to come up with the topic (adjusting for proper company and searching specifically for content about writing). Some weeks, looking back is a struggle—that is finding something in the past week to write about is a struggle. Often there are a bunch of usual things that get tedious to write about (therefore likely tedious to read). I generally go writing with Christian, we work on Adventure Worlds, the collection, and our novels. I can often be found at Anchor enjoying the great coffee and atmosphere when I’m not at work. There are very few days where I don’t waste time on too much television and floating around the internet. And oddly, I never seem to read enough. While my days are full, there are plenty of weeks where nothing of consequence happens.
This particular past week I spent more than one day playing video games (though it was a Naughty Dog game so I equate it with an interactive movie, not that it helps). I had a couple of productive writing sessions with Christian. Holding over from my medical event of last week, I had a doctor’s appointment at the furthest point in the city from where I reside (seriously, it was nearly a forty-five minute drive). Some content came in for the next Zine (thanks to Alex and Nikita from Drink and Draw). Somehow, while I wasn’t overly busy, I managed to miss couple of regular events (like Drink and Draw and WOW) but I did go to a reading, though that’s starting to become commonplace too. Probably the biggest time sink, and the most inane, was me getting into my head that I had to go and watch the best episodes of the Simpsons. I think I had forgotten that the show was (at one time) exceptionally good, and I wanted to relive some of that former glory. Though what do you write about that, that isn’t prattling on about the good old days and filling the page with references and quotes?
So here I am, nearing the end of the post for week 146 (minus all those weeks I missed back at the beginning) and I’m left to think, why. Why do I keep this weekly blog up when most weeks I don’t know what the heck I’m even going to write about? I’ve mentioned before that one day I’m going to write fewer of these for no other reason than because. I have no real reason for doing the blog on any given schedule (or to do it at all). I started it as a tie in to Adventure Worlds (and to try to capture the lost viewer/readership from the old WLTP days). 
Also, I wanted to prove to myself that I could actually buckle down and meet deadlines (even self imposed ones). I think I’ve done that by now, so why do I do it? One of the major (and dumbest) reasons is that I do. I started and I just keep going. The days pass and it becomes time to do the next one, so I do. Then there is the other reason. While there are weeks where I feel excited to write about something specific, on the weeks where it’s a monotonous chore, I still manage to get it done. The blog, both in its creation and its continuation, is analogous to my writing as a whole. There are days when I can’t wait to get that idea or description down, then there are days when I have no idea what to write and my characters refuse to help. Real writing happens on those difficult days. Anyone could write if it were always fun and easy. Writers, real nose to the grindstone authors, slog through those hard days knowing that, either way, everything is going to need a good edit.
So this week was a hard one, but I made it to the end and actually found a real thing to write about (eventually). Next week I have to go do something exciting so it’s easier to do this.
Ben Van Dongen 