Writers who Write about Writing

As of late, I have been spending more time writing "things."

My wife and I recently took over an art gallery and I have been spending a lot of time at the gallery. This means I get to enjoy periods of quiet reflection mixed in with periods of frenetic activity. It also means I get to spend far more time "in public," which means getting flashes of unexpected inspiration from the people who visit.

Last time I had a gallery/shop (1990's) I also wrote a lot. Not sure what it is about this type of setting that makes things "move." I'll have to get back to you on that.

I have read a lot of opinions about "writers who write about writing" and much of it is not particularly complimentary. Not complimentary, in the sense of critics saying it shows a lack of creativity... and is (by extension) an example of the old saying "Those who can, DO; those who can't, TEACH." Maybe there are elements of truth there... haven't decided yet.

For me, it's more a case that writing words like these helps me "warm up" to writing something more creative.

Changing the "Voice" of a Blog

As of late-- in part because I have been sick, and largely unable to focus on my regular work-- I have been contemplating what to "do" with my various blogs and web properties... some of which are approaching 20 years of age.

20 years!

That's the equivalent of "the history of the world," in the world of the Internet.

One of my mainstay blogs is about to get an overhaul or makeover-- or at least a ""Change of Voice."

What I mean by that is that the blog was originally built mostly around personal experiences within a specific niche (starting in 2002), but as time progressed I allowed the "personal" aspect to give way to a more scientific, 3rd person approach. Eventually, the blog progressed to a point where I had pretty much written "myself" completely out of the picture.

Whereas that may be good, bad or whatever... fact remains that the blog stopped serving me, and simply became a vehicle for transmitting information,

And something was lost, in the process.

I get the sense that this kind of "progression" happens to more than a few niche writers. We get trapped in a pattern of focusing excessively on "writing properly," and lose sight of why we started writing, in the first place.

Being in the business of writing is never static. We may talk ourselves into believing that we get to "publish, and then we're done" but that's seldom 100% true. And so... I will start the process of evaluating those many venues and taking a hard look at what their intent truly is.

If you're a writer, I'd recommend you do the same...

I should always write in the mornings

Once again, I am reminded of the importance of writing first thing in the morning.

Could be that I simply lose my focus as the day goes on-- or maybe my brain gets tired-- but I sat here yesterday at 4:00 in the afternoon, realizing that I really had very little to contribute.

At the end of a day of "this, that and the other," the creative side of my brain amounted to little more than noise and mush.

What is your writing practice?

Although I am not exactly what most people would call a "morning person," there is little doubt that I do my best writing early in the day. By about 2-3 in the afternoon, I lack clarity.

According to writing consultant and creative writer Julia Cameron, we are typically at our "cleanest" (in terms of expression) before our heads start to fill up with the tasks of the day and the influences of all the stuff that is going on around us-- family, work, the news, life. And that holds true, regardless of whether we are early risers or night owls.

Of course, there are those who say they write their best late at night... but-- on further investigation-- it typically is true that this "best" doesn't set in until after a "wind down" from their day.

All These Words in Random Places

Once again, I find myself contemplating my "serial writing" practice... or, rather, my lack of a practice.

I have often said-- and I suppose it has become a personal philosophy of sorts-- that the secret to becoming and being a writer is simply "to write." And that's not really a secret, or is it any kind of magic potion... "it" all begins with us sitting down and churning out words.

What I mean by that is that a lot of people talk and plan and think about doing what they want to be doing but fail to actually DO any of the doing of what they are planning, thinking and talking about doing.

A few years ago, I decided to combat my own laziness and general lack of motivation by taking at least minimal (but often more) notes every time I had an idea or thought that seemed "writing worthy." I don't know that it has served to increase the volume of my writing by a whole lot-- I still struggle to complete articles on a regular basis-- but at least it has kept me in a more creative frame of mind.

And I have built an impressive collection of hand written notes...

Of course, it happened again today... where a comment left on a Facebook post got extended into a short blog post about writing, which in turn got transmuted into a different-- and much longer-- blog post about my struggle with ADHD.

I look at my reams of tiny scribbled pieces of paper, and can only hope that some day they might turn themselves into something... meanwhile, I will continue to place "random words" in random places...

The In-Between Days

In some parts of the world, today is "Boxing Day."

Although I lived in the "English" part of the world for a while, most of my memories of December 26th come from my years in retail where the day after Christmas typically was a day of returns-- a day where we prayed that we wouldn't end up "upside down" for the day.

But these are memories.

These days, December 26th marks the beginning of "the in-between days;" that brief period between Christmas and the New Year where I typically sit down and "take stock" of life and think about things I want to accomplish during the coming year.

As I look at the past year in review, I increasingly have become aware that writing has pretty much become a "guilty pleasure" for me. 2015 will mark the 4th consecutive year where writing earned me less than the year before... and I am reaching the point where even considering my writing to be "a business" of any sort of pretty much a joke. Sadly, that's not a trend I see reversing anytime soon... unless I'm willing to return to technical writing, which I am not.

As I observe life on a macro level, it seems that "pure" writers are gradually becoming a part of history, and that writing (if you're trying to make a living) is increasingly reduced to being an adjunct to offering workshops, lectures, retreats and teaching.

As smartphones and mobile devices become the mainstay of Internet access and more and more people use ad blockers on all their devices, the "advertising based model" is becoming obsolete, so the idea of getting rewarded for your own content is falling by the wayside. This year, I watched several revenue sharing web sites shut down, a couple start and fail, and none start and stay strong. So that's no longer part of the mix.

Meanwhile, the old standards for independent writers-- Amazon Associates and Google's Adsense-- also seem to be taking it in the shorts. In a sense, we seem to be returning to the original Internet, which was all about free information-- not about products or selling.

These days, I also find myself contemplating the idea of writing books... and what it means to write books in the digital age,

Writing a book takes a huge investment of time and effort for which you absolutely do NOT get compensated, and then it's pretty chancy whether you'll eventually get a small reward, post publication. I remember a good friend's commentary from earlier in 2015 when he finally published his long-awaited book... in the first week after it was released, he sold a couple of copies and had several dozen requests for "free downloads." Kind of makes me wonder what the whole point is.

Of course, there are those of the persuasion that "writing for money" is a sort of "selling out."

Maybe that's true, and maybe I'd agree... IF I happened to be a "trust fund baby" or otherwise independently wealthy, but as it happens, I must allocate my time wisely because groceries and electricity cost money.

Writing, Politics and the Loss of Alternative Income

In recent months, I have been watching the slow but steady decline of income from my online writing efforts.

Amazon pays less than it ever has, Google Adsense pays less than it ever has, my "revenue sharing" venues are paying less than they ever have. For the first month in many years, I might actually make less than $10. I used think that as long as I "made enough for a dinner out" I could justify spending some time writing every day.

The decline not because readership is down. In fact, readership is fairly broadly up, across my writing venues. The decline is the result of any given page view having less value than ever.

Meanwhile, the "Political Circus" is ramping up as the US Presidential elections of next year draw closer. Various candidates are trying to "establish position" and lots of viewpoints are being tossed around. Conspiracy theorists (at least some of them) would have us all believe that we are powerless anyway... and "nothing short of anarchy" can change our system.

To me, there is little doubt that most politicians are-- to some degree-- little more than sock puppets for business interests. It's one of the great weaknesses of the US political system: Government is ultimately run by those who stand to profit from government.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, by any stretch of the imagination.

What I do see, however-- purely as a keen observer of the human condition-- is that the ever-growing chasm between the "haves" and "have-nots" seems partially fueled by the fact that our ability to create "alternative" income streams is closing... that is, it gets harder and harder to be "outside the system."

Well.

Not harder to BE outside the system, but to LIVE outside the system. You can BE outside the system to your heart's content, you just can't make a living there, anymore. Or it's a lot more work than it used to be.

Again, not being a conspiracy theorist here... just postulating that just like the income earned by minimum wage (and most hourly) workers hasn't increased at the same rare as the life expenses of those people, similarly the income increases of the self-employed (most of us) haven't kept up with increasing costs to do business, and simply to live.

It's 2015, and I make about the same as I did in 2006. "Product X" or "Service Y" from a small contributor like me sells for about the same then and now. And if I have "the nerve" to up my prices, I will just lose overall business. When it comes to writing and getting paid... the "per word" rates are largely unchanged.

The math behind that simply doesn't work, from a functional perspective. And this, many feel increasing pressure to "comply" and just go get a mainstream job that fits "in the establishment" somewhere, and serves the "machine" we have been trying to operate independently of.

I feel sad for those writers who actually depend on this gig for paying their electric bills...

A Little Bit Disgusted

In recent weeks, I have been growing increasingly disgusted with the whole writing business.

Seems to me that the time may have come where I-- and many of my fellow online writers who have been using the method for years-- simply need to quit and throw in the towel on the whole idea of being able to make a few dollars from "micropayments" from their writing.

As I watch what goes on-- and read between the proverbial "lines"-- it seems more and more evident that it is getting all but impossible to gain any income from revenue sharing sites and ad revenue.

Web users increasingly use "ad blockers" and "collective publishing" web sites (like HubPages) increasingly get downgraded as "too spammy" by search engines... meaning that their web traffic and search engine traffic is caught in a cycle of decline.

Meanwhile-- if you are a web site owner or blogger who uses something like Adsense, or even the popular Amazon Associates to monetize your web properties-- it seems like the "revenue per page view" is in an eternal downward spiral with no logical end in site.

I recently looked at my own personal site stats from September and observed that with more (and "current") content than ever before, my Amazon commissions had actually declined to less than one dollar for the month for the second month is a row... compared to $15-20 a month, just a couple of years ago. Meanwhile my AdSense revenues had shrunk by almost 50%, while my site visits were up almost 50%, for the same period.

I suppose the good news is that my content attracts readers... I just no longer have a way to be commercially rewarded for that. Reminds me of "old days" as a writer where "compensation" was sometimes offered in the form of "yeah, but it will look good on your resumé!" Nice. Try using that to pay for your groceries, next time you're at Safeway!

The more I look at this, the more it feels like we are returning to some version of the "Free Web" that existed in pre-advertising days.

But something does not compute-- because the web is NOT "free." Billions of dollars have to be spent on servers, content maintenance and infrastructure... and that has to come from somewhere.

Unfortunately, it seems like it increasingly comes from "deceptive practices," in the form of those "other suggested content" listings now so prominent on many web sites. "Content," that is, that actually isn't even "content," but advertising or links to some kind of malware that will eternally insist that you need to defrag your hard drive in order to "improve performance," while serving you a barrage of ads for gambling or porn web sites.

Feels like the web has learned nothing at all.

Also feels like the average writer's avenues for the pursuit of an honestly begotten dollar or two are being closed off. So much for making a few bucks to pay their electric bill...

Forging While the Iron is Hot

What I have increasingly learned about writing is that I need to “just do it” when the idea strikes.

The “problem” I have always had is that I am seldom in a position to act on my ideas when I have them.

I have spent virtually all my adult life being in a position where “I have to get my work done” took the front seat in my experience of life. Not because I was greedy or trying to amass wealth, but because I had to deal with the reality of shut-off notices and bill collectors… as I have never been employed at doing anything that earned me more than basic “scraping by.”

Ironic, considering that I have a college degree from a highly accredited University. Problem is, I never had the kind of ambition to pursue a conventional career… and the things I did have an inclination to pursue were never well compensated—if they were compensated at all.

So I have made reams and reams of in-the-moment-notes of the ideas I have had, all with the intention of "coming back someday" to develop said ideas into articles, blog posts and even books.

The problem is always the same: "Someday" never arrives... because I can't afford them to.

Often, I find myself waiting for the "perfect day" to sit down and start writing. Of course, there is no such thing as perfection... so that's not going to happen. Then I tell myself that I just "need to get organized." Well, I did that back in spring when we spent a few days in Joshua Tree... then I did some more of it while we were in Denmark for three weeks. Aside from that, two articles were actually written... in spite of the fact that I have notes enough for about 1200.

In the end, it increasingly seems like I just need to sit down and write when the mood strikes me.

When I view that in the context of "I can't AFFORD that," the net result is that I have pretty much become a non-writer.

And that makes me feel sad.