This is a tough one, and I'm not exactly sure what point I wanna make here.
I read something the other day from a certain sports journalist that I admire. He was giving advice to young bloggers who wanted to get in the game. And by "get in the game", I mean that these young bloggers might actually want to make a living from doing this at some point in the future. Because as we all know, anyone can be a blogger.
He was pretty harsh on this one particular young man who was inquiring about a blogging gig. At first saying all the right things. "Start writing. Keep writing. Write because you love it. Practice makes perfect." That kind of thing. But he wrapped it up by telling this guy that he probably doesn't have the writing chops to join his merry band of journalists. Without reading anything more than a brief email from the guy, mind you.
Now, that's probably true. I can't imagine that it's easy writing for a living, even though many of us have dreamed that little dream. But this seemed like an unnecessarily cold way of saying it. He then followed it up with a tweet (
yes, I'm on Twitter...barely) jokingly urging that we all give up on blogging for one year until we all learn or re-learn how to write. He included himself in that mini-rant, in case you were wondering. Still...
I don't know. I guess it should bother us when someone is paid to write about a subject that we love, and then they proceed to do it poorly. But when it comes to something like sports, I'm not always looking for Hemingway. Sometimes I just want the facts, some good analysis or a funny quip. A lot of times, that's ALL I'm looking for. There are times when I stumble across something on a blog that I consider to be extremely well-read, and I will almost always pass that on to my friends. But most of the time, I'm not in it for the art.
That's a tough thing right there to admit. Most times, I just don't care.
I feel extremely lucky to have found most of you. Ye bloggers extraordinaire on my feed reader, that is. I consider a bunch of you to be excellent writers and good eggs all around. Much better writers than I. And there was a time when I wanted to be a better writer. One of the reasons I started this blog was to do exactly that. Write better.
But along the way, I've become more comfortable with my voice. I try to interact with this here blog the way I interact with the world. Writing the way I speak, generally. Sure, sometimes I try to put on airs. Right there...see? I never say "put on airs" in real life. But more often than not, what you see here is what usually comes out of my mouth. Foul language and all. Maybe a little spittle too.
And I'm fine with that. I don't believe I have the discipline to write better, is the thing. Sure it would be nice, but I'm just too lazy. And I'm fairly happy with what I do here on a mostly daily basis. Even the lazy video posts and crap I steal from other sites. Borrow...I mean borrow.
Besides, it's not like I'm looking to get paid for what I do here. I'm doing it because I still consider to to be worth my time. A fun little hobby. Yeah, sometimes I wish I were a better boyfriend, friend, son, brother, uncle or magician*. Maybe one day I will be all of those things. And maybe one day I will become (
or at least try to become) a better writer.
But right now? Aw...fuck it.
*I don't even know one single magic trick. The only way to go here is up!
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Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. See? Even I don't know what my point was there.
