Sunday, April 22, 2007

The First Post

Awhile back, I had a conversation with my sister, Mary, concerning her blogging, specifically her running blog, where she stated that one of the benefits of having the running blog was that it kept her disciplined about running. Because she had a blog to maintain, she said, it forced her to continue running, if only to have material to post. It was as if she had an audience, even if she didn't actually have an audience, that she didn't want to disappoint. So she kept running, which of course, was the real upside of the whole process, since running has all kinds of benefits besides giving a person words to throw out into cyberspace.

This led Mary, quite naturally, as we had been discussing it earlier in the conversation, to the conclusion that I should start a blog about writing. That earlier part of the discussion had concerned itself partly with my lack of discipline in writing, and how I was never getting around to writing the stories I wanted to write, even though I had lots of ideas for stories. The imagination was willing, but the spirit was weak. "What I great suggestion," I thought, and told Mary as much. Perhaps, someday I would do that.

After all, there was all kinds of benefits from undertaking such a project. Not only would it have the whole disciplinary angle that Mary suggested, but on the spare occasions where I have attempted to write fiction lately, I have felt like my ability to put words together in interesting ways has atrophied. Writing about writing would give me the opportunity to strengthen some of the very skills necessary to the the fulfillment of the main project. Not all of them, of course. In fiction writing, there is things like characterization and plotting and imagery to consider, which I doubt will be put to much use here. But crafting sentences, putting sentences together in a meaningful and constructive manner, and making use of the more dusty sections of my vocabulary are skills that are useful in either format. Which gives it all an extra benefit for my project over Mary's. Instead of blogging about running, it is like doing leg stretches about running, or various other cardiovascular exercises about running.

Well, as I said, the spirit was weak, and that conversation was a while back. Mary has been to Rome and back again since that conversation, and I have written nary a thing. I suppose part of me just kept putting off the beginning of this project, and part of me just didn't really think it would be necessary, that I could write fiction without bothering to write about writing fiction. But, as all this time has passed, and I haven't gotten any farther along at the whole writing thing, I think it is time to face up to the fact that really do need some kind of disciplinary measure to get myself going.

So here goes. This is my new blog, or web log, what have you, called Demon's Dreaming. It will be my account of my attempts at writing fiction, where I will discuss what I am working on at the moment, what I hope to accomplish, and the problems I am having achieving those goals. I will also likely be including other posts about a variety of topics related in some way to my main topic. You know, philosophical or social issues that I am thinking through and might in some way be grappling with in a story or that I am hoping to grapple with in a story.

At some point soon I will include a post explaining the title of the blog, and hopefully I will have something to post soon about something I am working on. Until then, let's just say, hope this works, right?