It Drives Me Nuts

Yep. That's what the pirate said when asked why he had a steering wheel mounted on the front of his trousers.

Actually, the point that I'm trying to make is that sometimes writing can drive me a little crazy. Being my own worst critic, I'm constantly revising, updating, changing, editing, and re-posting stuff. A lot of times after I post something, I go back and re-read it and find five different things I want to change--even stuff as mundane as the title of the post. Lately I've found that I've been doing it more than I probably should. I don't know why, but mostly I think that I can always do better. But it's just a blog, fer cryin' out loud, so I should just post and then shut the hell up. It doesn't have to be polished. For some reason, I can never remember that bit of self-advice.

But the fact that I spend so much more energy editing instead of being creative kind of pisses me off. I've got to find a balance in there somewhere or else I really will go crazy and post nothing but All work and no beer makes Homer something something over and over again for a month straight. And nobody wants me to end up running around the estate with a crazed look in my eye and an axe in my hand.

I guess part of it is the fact that once I get a new computer/printer setup, I'm going to go back and save all of my old blog entries at my end and print them every month for a 'hard copy' journal type thing, and I just want it to be good. Nothing embarrasses me more than bad writing, and when I go back and read some of my old Vegas trip reports, or even that article I sold to the sailing magazine a couple years back, I just cringe.

I used to keep a handwritten journal for years, ever since I was like 12 or 13, stopping about ten years ago or so, and I'm deathly afraid to go back and read just how bad that writing is. So they're under lock and key. I'm afraid that if I went back and re-read some of that stuff, all three volumes would end up in the fireplace.

Maybe I just don't want to be reminded of all the stupid shit I said twenty years ago. But who knows how I'll feel twenty years from now. Hell, by then it might be worth something on Ebay. You just never know.

Mikey