Letters to the Internet

Here I am! I'm trying again, because the only way to master something is to practice.

- Something something inspirational speech insert here. -

Was that a humorous attempt at filler? Perhaps it was.

I'm trying though, truly I am. I used to enjoy writing. For years I have had friends and family tell me, "you really should write for a living!" The problem is, they're friends and family. They've gotten to know me over time, (or have to put up with me because I'm related) and they want to see more of ME. Me as in, my photos, and the stories about the subject or the journey to capture it that sometimes go with them. The poems I sometimes throw up, jumbled mess of words that get spewed across a nice, white, blank space. My sometimes saccharine, sometimes caustically sarcastic world view. The horses, cats, dogs, my kids, my job, but not necessarily my writing. I'm beginning to understand this precisely because I am now trying to write, and not just meander words across a page. It's hard to shift from writing to entertain for free, to writing to earn a living. I'm not certain I'm up to the task. I won't know if I don't make (several, probably ridiculous, let me be more self depreciating,) attempts. I'll go for the low humor here. Or the pity. Are you laughing yet? No, you say?

I have spent the last twenty years getting most of my socialization through my kids, my job, and social sites. As I wandered away from blogging, I ended up learning to cut away large chunks of my stories in order to meet a character limit and the short attention spans of the online audience.

Everything is a work in progress though, correct? So I should be able to relearn how to write pieces with around a 1000 words without even having to think about it much. Practice makes perfect, if I can find a community I fit in, and readers to read what I write in this platform. I haven't had much time to explore so I'm not even sure if there is a method for critique or advice. I'm flying blind, and I just might hit a barn. Look out below!

Selling the final result may be next to impossible. This is the internet, and what grabs people's interest usually ends up being the shiny bits, or the gory bits. I can't promise either one of these things. Perhaps some gore at least in the metaphorical sense here, because I'm definitely bleeding.

I've read a few books by writers on writing, why they write what they write, and it usually boils down to "write what you know." In fact, I can't even figure out who originally came up with that, it is so pervasive. So what do I know? How to write the nonsense floating around in my head in 200 words or less. How to artistically shorten a sentence so it fits in a tweet. I'm laughing as I write this, but is it truly funny?

I suppose I could peruse a few communities and get a feel for what is possible, and then search writing prompts within that category for inspiration, or to figure out how to cram myself yet again into another package that can be wrapped and adorned with a bow in order to be suitably palatable for the masses.

I'm not being a particularly entertaining or helpful content creator here, am I, dear reader?

I'm not used to selling the skeletons rattling about inside my mind.

I think it is probably a good thing I don't write for a living. I would probably starve to death.