February 22, 2016
So here’s an interesting problem. Now that I’m a writer, what do I write?
(A big part of the motivating force behind this post is Celeste Headlee’s excellent TED talk, which you can see here: https://www.ted.com/talks/celeste_headlee_10_ways_to_have_a_better_conversation. If you take the time to watch her talk, you will hopefully see some connection between her comments about blogs. I also have her to thank for the idea of the image above.)
I’m not a particularly preachy person (I really hope my self-perception is accurate in this area); I’m not very comfortable up on a soapbox. I much prefer to engage in the exploration of an idea with someone else. This is why I like the idea of being a freelance writer; before sitting down at a computer to put something to the keyboard, I get to have a conversation with another human being where I get to try to understand their perspective. And I love that process.
But it creates a challenge for finding my own voice and putting it out there–letting y’all know what I’m up to, as I discussed in my previous post here. I don’t want to write weekly “Christmas letters.” That would be dull, and anyway, it’s essentially what mydaily vlog is for–“this is what I did and this is what I think about it.” And it’s easier to do in video form; much less editing.
But the problem remains–what do I write about? How do I keep myself on people’s radars, in their heads and hearts? I don’t really know the answer. Yet. I hope to find out as I keep on journeying.
In the meantime, if you’re in the Treasure Valley and have fallen off my radar, or are traveling through and want to catch up, or want to travel through Boise (it’s a great city and Idaho has awesome wilderness) and need a couch to crash on, give me a buzz. Like I said, my very favorite thing is talking to interesting people and finding out what the world looks like from their perspective. It’s the most cost-effective way to spend an hour that I can think of (coffee is a $1.54 at Dawson Taylor, 4 blocks from my apartment), and I always walk away from conversations with interesting people like you feeling like the world is pretty awesome.
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