In my school days, I acquired a bit of a reputation of being a good writer. I always scored top marks in English Composition, wrote brilliant essays, entered writing competitions, wrote short stories to entertain friends, kept a daily journal and when I moved to England, wrote the longest letters to friends back home
I LIKED writing! I even considered a career in Journalism
However, lately, I’ve run out of material to blog about
I’ve changed as well. I find no pleasure in blogging and my journal, which I was once slavishly devoted to, lies forlornly on my bedside cabinet- gathering dust. I’ve been cutting out newspaper articles that I felt… 'Oh that’s worth blogging about’
Stories like 16-year-old Lydia Playfoot, from West Sussex who went to the High Court to accuse her school of discriminating against Christians by banning the wearing of "purity rings".
I thought I’d write something about best selling ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins (which is quite a good read if you are the type that is not easily offended) and the Christian response, ‘The Dawkins Delusion’ by Alister McGrath which is admittedly a bit more of a slog to get through– unlike the former it is definitely not popular literature. However, when I sit down at my computer, the words just don’t flow!
I find it difficult to express any opinions, even in normal conversation. These days when people are airing their views (more like parroting what they’ve heard from other people) I just listen, or play devil’s advocate by challenging their views.
Or have I just lost motivation to write?
Feedback is the fuel that drives a writer on! We need to know what impact our words are having; that we are COMMUNICATING!!! Through our writing we create and develop a ‘relationship’ with our readers. A relationship, cannot survive if it is all one-sided. If you had a conversation with someone who did not react at all, you’d quickly run out of steam.
People do not read my blog anymore. My younger sister, who used to be my most avid reader, asked me the other day what my blog address was.
Need I say more?
Sometimes things like this make me feel inadequate as a writer. I start comparing my writing to writers of ‘successful’ blogs – you know the ones that have 1000+ hits per day?
But even though I am not trained, I know that I’m still a good writer! Why else would my email-pal with whom I correspond with daily still keep writing! This has become one of the few outlets that have satisfied my writer’s ‘need’. I concentrate most of my efforts to these emails which are a pleasure to write. It keeps me grounded and I think I’d go mad if Simon wasn’t there- always responding, commenting, challenging
Why then should I write for an inattentive audience?
