I must say I have enjoyed writing under self imposed deadlines. I wish I could say that the output was more successful, and yet still I have had my moments. This blog was originally started to counterbalance my other blog with amiability. Those who wanted a more friendly blog were taken into account. Freedom of speech is such an elusive thing and I found that I had very little to say that would seem to please everyone.
Both blogs were grand experiments and taught me much about writing quickly while sacrificing quality for sheer quantity. While this seems like an illaudable goal, this was the style that always alluded me. Being a flawed perfectionist, in the past I would begin to write short pieces, poetry and novels, but never conquer the fear of not being perfect. That fear would cause me to discontinue things before they were finished. That fear has now been put to rest and is behind me. While I did spend some time polishing a few entries, never did I take the full amount of time necessary to make things perfect.
Back when I spent over a year teaching English as a Second Language classes during a great deal of my off time, I found two types of students, different seemingly because of cultural differences. As a general rule, the Japanese were more perfectionist because of their culture of politeness. Things had to be said in a way that was formally polite. They would stumble in their speech and would take an inordinate amount of time in the learning process. This hampered their development.
On the other side of the continuum were the Chinese students who could speak quickly and get their point across. Less worried about grammar they would forge ahead. Their energy was infectious. While I loved the Japanese for being like me, I longed to be more like the Chinese. This is what I hope I have accomplished.
I have written about religion in one or both of my blogs. I have also written about politics. Anyone can tell you these are not subjects for polite company. While the ancient Greeks thought these subjects to be more vital to life than any others, we today do not easily converse in these topics. For those of you who were offended you have my deepest apologies.
While I am giving up these two fledgling efforts, I am more than a little sorry I have to do so. The readership was just not there which was my fault entirely for pushing quantity. While I actually care little about my readership levels, the effort that goes into massaging each piece for a general audience “just in case”, was too much of a constriction.
I do plan new blogs. My subject matter for the individual blogs will probably be photography, a continuation of The Meadowview Project, a catchall blog for politics, economics, philosophy, religion and current events, a personal blog and a video blog on CNN backhaul feeds and early Beatles television events. All will be anonymous. With the exception of the video blog, I expect my readership to be basically only me.
I will also be writing a book someday, God willing. Now that I have broken the ice here, I see that my writing has become so much more natural and flowing. For those of you who have followed me, especially my Hungarian friend, I thank you very much. While I was writing my blogs mostly for myself, knowing that some of you were out there was very influential.
As a side note, the blog entry that got a readership far above the norm was my entry “My Instant Hero Worship of Brooksley Born” in the aimless blog. The stats were astounding really. And there can be no better subject to write or read about. The financial crises is still not recognized for what it is, and if that happens it may well be far to late. Public official heroes like Brooksley Born are few and far between. May God bless her for trying.
