Thursday, August 30, 2007

What Do I Want To Blog About Today?

That’s a tough question to answer. For me, anyway. You see, I am lazy. I admit it. I don’t cook if I can help it, I’m ok with taking the trash out the morning of trash day instead of the night before, I used to live and die by the snooze button (although that problem has been solved by a trio of canines that refuse to allow me an extra nine minutes of not taking them for their morning walk).

Still, in spite of this sluggish personality, I do try to put at least one post per week on this old blog o’ mine. Some bloggers, like moonrat, put two, three, or even more posts up in a single day. How the heck do they do that? I dunno. Inspiration strikes some folks more than others, I suppose.

When it comes down to it, the lengthy spans between my posts are more to do with lack of anything constructive to say than any issues of laziness. While I have been known to write about things that happened to me or even how I feel on a given day, normally I try to put something in here with a little more depth. Let’s face it, y’all don’t want to read about my day if I haven’t had something exciting happen. Anyone who did visit would probably stop doing so after one or two posts that started with “Today I noticed my toilet paper is really more of an eggshell white than an ivory.”

You guys wouldn’t care, and I kinda like y’all, so I gotta think of something that’ll make you come back and see me again. Both of you. I never wanted this to be a blog about David McAfee, where anyone who wanted to peek might catch a glimpse of my daily life. Rather, I wanted this to be a blog by David McAfee, in which I could wax philosophically about anything and everything and hopefully learn a thing or two about some other folks when they came to visit. While I do, in my other blog, My Red Z, talk about my car, that blog is easy. When I do any maintenance or have any gripes (neither of which has happened yet), those entries will write themselves. They are no-brainers. Which is good, because that’s a no-brainer blog.

But what about the times when I want to actually say something. Know what I mean? So in that vein, today’s topic of discussion is going to be (drumroll, please)…blog posts!

Ha!

You guys thought I was going to say Kool Aid or Kumquats or something silly like that, didn’t you. Well, as silliness is in my nature, I can’t blame you. But before I get derailed and hop onto the Tangent Bus (as we all know I am prone to do), I want to let you all in on my secret to coming up with meaningful blog topics.

I don’t have one.

Actually, the argument could be made that I don’t have a meaningful blog topic, either, but as that’s another tangent, I’ll stop right there.

The truth is I will think about something I want to say, and unfortunately, this most often stems from my experience, which is why so many posts have that “I am David McAfee, read about my life” feel to them. Hey, even this one does. Crap. Sorry ‘bout that. But I am not going back to retype all this (see the first sentence of this post…the one that begins with “I am…”).

Ok, so what I’d like to know is, how do you, my fellow blogomites, come up with a topic to discuss? What inspires you? I know I have read several posts on Aprilynne’s blog about the success of her friends, which is commendable. And John Elder Robison continues to educate readers on the nature of Aspergers, which (I am almost ashamed to admit) I had always equated with Autism. But even they have the occasional “A Day In My Life” posts.

How about the rest of y’all? How do you decide what to talk about? Hmmmm?

Oh, by the way…

Kumquat.

hehe.

I just couldn’t resist.

See Y’all!

10 comments:

Tyhitia Green said...

David,
I'm here! LOL! Anyway, I happen to think of things I'd like to discuss, whether they are writing realted or not. Just depends on what I want to say. Sometimes I'll think about a topic for days or weeks before I even post it.

John Robison said...

I always wonder how much diversity I should have in my blog. I try and keep it intersting. I'd encourage you to wander a bit in your topic selection, too.

Aprilynne Pike said...

Mmmm, kumquats . . .

No really, they're way good. They also have the lime equivalent of kumquats (and I think they are called the fantastically creative name of . . . kumquat limes *rolls eyes*) and they are really good too.

I don't have a secret either except that I try to loosely relate my blog topics to writing.

And remember, as soon as you have a book deal, I'll brag about you too!!:)

Aprilynne Pike said...

BTW, I thought your waiting post was very good. I've thought about it several times over the last few days.

David L. McAfee said...

Aww, thanks Aprilynne. :) I've never had a Kumquat. You'd think they'd call the lime ones Citriquats, or Quatlimes, or something like that.

John - That's one of the things I really like about your blog. The variety of topics you discuss.

Demon Hunter - I know what you mean. I've had one idea for about a month but I'm never quite sure how to phrase it. So, being lazy, I just move on to other topics. :)

Adrienne said...

I hear dat! I think for the most part I like to wait until I have something to say (though I do confess to writing a very similar blog entry myself) than just writing something for the sake of it. Fortunately for the most part this whole publishing a first book thing is so exciting and new to me, that I feel I always have something I can contribute.

And I do so like the sound of my own voice.

Still I hear ya brother, some days, man some days there just ain't NOTHIN' to talk about.

David L. McAfee said...

We all love the sound of your voice too, Adrienne. :)

Naomi said...

I recommend starting a cult as an ice breaker. Hey, it's been working for me ;)

moonrat said...

as for moonrat, that illustrious lady simply relies on blogging as something to prevent her from having to work. you can gauge the productivity and enjoyability of a particular day in her life--it will be inversely proportionate to the number of blog posts.

when you have many other more important things to do than blog, you find that you have OH so much to say.

Liane Manso Betton said...

Since I can't seem to post more than once a month I don't feel I can adequately answer this but I'm gonna try anyway. When i do finally put down some thoughts I usually involves writing in atleast some slight way. Sometimes it's just a babble, sometimes it has purpose, but either way it's always an idea that's stuck in my head and the only way to shake it out is to write it.

So write what you feel. Any interesting gophers stories?