Random Acts of Writing

So, my original Tuesday Tool Time post was going to be about Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way tools. But while looking through my old emails to see when I first really started with the Artist’s Way, I found my old Blogger sites. (Yeah, I know, plural. Go big or Go home.) Who knew I have been writing on the internet for 20 people or less since 2005. How about that for persistance?

Back in the olden days of the internet, pre-MySpace and Facebook, there were blogging sites. Xanga and Blogger. They were advertised as on line diaries, or journals that you could use to pour your heart out and let the world see. And Blogger was the cool thing for bloggers, especially after Xanga went away. But if you happen to be trying to distract yourself from what you are supposed to be doing, i.e., writing, nothing like finding your 16 year old blog. Talk about a different life. I was a stay home mom, trying to write these honking big historical novels, (apparently not very well, but I did get an Honorable Mention at the Austin Writer’s League competition one year.) and really not having a clue. Also, I think I took every internet quiz available, and posted the results every Thursday. Then, as now, I liked themes. And cycles. 

I blogged about what ever was going through my head in the few minutes I found free each day or week, or month. There are surges, weeks of daily posts, then lulls, followed by, “Gee, it’s been a while since I touched this blog.” I bet if I googled that phrase, I would end up with the mother of all blog lists.

I read through a few of the old posts, and now I want to go and rewrite some of those novels, not that I have time, because, Short Story Challenge is due Saturday and my own bad Bradbury Challenge story is due Sunday. But oooh, all the pretty unfinished novels out there, just begging to be at least completed shitty first drafts, rather than a bunch of free writing in old notebooks. 

Blogger was a tool that let you hit that magic word, publish. Sure, there was no real editing, which is painfully evident, but you put the stuff out. Some people who have huge blog followings now, started on Blogger. They of course moved to Word Press, or self hosting, or whatever, as Blogger isn’t so much a thing anymore, but for a basic, and I mean basic, word processor that lets you vomit your thoughts to the world with a push of a button, it wasn’t bad. 

That said, since I use Word Press here and at the day job, I like it much better. Even if nothing in the Genesis framework does what I expect it to do. Live and learn. 

Of course, blogging is so 2000’s and 2010’s and now all the cool kids are on Instagram. But I am a late adopter. You will find my TikTok account starting in about 2030.