Eskişehir, Türkiye
Wednesday 20 March 2024
But what is to become of all my diaries and online posts?
If I died, what would people make of them?
Would they be inclined to simply burn the paper and delete the electronic?
Could they merit publication?
Make a book as the body of work is destroyed?
If the scraps and scratchings could be assembled, could something be made of them?
Heaven only knows.
My words are dictated by my mood.
Sometimes a slight melancholy comes upon me sometimes and makes me think I am old, obsolete, repeating things.
Yet, as far as I know, I am only speaking my mind.
In working on my manuscript for my first intended novel, “The Donkey Trail“, I write of bad dreams, which leaves me feeling wretched and depressed.
Writing is a hard master.
The hours don’t matter as much as the urgency to produce.
Time is impassive and impersonal.
Can my writing capture life and create another world worth exploring?
I have abandoned, perhaps prematurely, my winter coat for spring sweaters.
I anticipate an unremarkable day for me personally, though this day in history is noteworthy:
- Italian physicist Alessandro Volta reports that he has developed a reliable source of electrical current. He has invented the wet cell battery. (1800)
Above: Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
- “No picture receives clemency. The Führer is also for expropriation without compensation. We will swap a few of the works abroad for real masterworks. For this reason, the Führer is setting up a commission under my chairmanship.” (Joseph Goebbels)
- After the Nazi-organized Degenerate Art Exhibitıon closed on 4 June 1939, the authorities needed to deal with the 16,000 works of art they had confiscated over the previous few years and stored in a warehouse on Köpenickerstraße in Berlin. Initially, the Nazis offered all the confiscated artwork for sale to foreign collectors and museums via trusted art dealers or exchanged it for art they regarded as “decent“. This process left about 5,000 works that nobody appeared to want, so these paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures were simply burned in the courtyard of the main fire station in Berlin.
- Perhaps this example of firemen employed to make a fire rather than put out a fire was a source of inspiration for Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451“, wherein books have been outlawed and firemen burn any that are found? (1939)
- “I don’t think anybody yet has invented a pastime that is as much fun or keeps you as young as a good job.” (Frederick Hudson Ecker, Chairman of Metropolitan Life Insurance, quoted in today’s New York Times obituary)
Above: Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, New York City
Legacy versus daily life.
Alessandro Volta’s name lives on as a unit of measure.
In 1881, the volt was officially established as an electrical potential of one joule (after James Prescott Joule) per coulomb (after Charles Augustin de Coulomb) to flow through a resistance of one ohm (after Georg Ohm).
“Volt” is used around the world.
Compare this to the 5,000 works of art produced by unnamed artists over innumerable amounts of time and effort all destroyed in an instant of insanity.
Above: Joseph Goebbels (1897 – 1945) views the Degenerate Art Exhibition, 26 February 1938
I consider Ecker’s words and I am grateful that fate led me to the dual professions that I love: teaching and writing.
I find myself thinking of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four“:
“For whom, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, was he writing this diary?
For the future, for the unborn.
His mind hovered for a moment round the doubtful date on the page.
For the first time the magnitude of what he had undertaken came home to him.
How could you communicate with the future?
It was of its nature impossible.
Either the future would resemble the present, in which case it would not listen to him:
Or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless.
He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear.
But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken.
It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage.“
I write what I am passionate about.
I write of my cousin’s dream to motivate young people to becoming all that they can be. (“Highway One“)
I write of a man’s journey to self-discovery and his realization that a man is more than just a companion. (“The Donkey Trail“)
Blogs become books when you:
- Write about which you feel passionate
- Know you have enough material to keep you busy writing for a long time
- Make certain other people are interested in your topic
- Ensure that you add something new and unique to the overcrowded blogosphere
- Write great content (content readers want, need, enjoy or connect with emotionally) often and consistently
- Promote your blog and your posts well
- Don’t give up.
Blogs have become books.
- Julie Powell blogged (“The Julie / Julia Project“) about cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” during a single year. The blog became a memoir. The memoir led to a book contract. The book was made into a hit movie Julie & Julia.
- Lizzie Skurnick’s blog (“Fine Lines“) analyzed classic young adult books, deconstructing them with wisdom, humor and insight. This led to the book “Shelf Discovery“.
- Emily Benet, writing under the name “Belle de Jour“, wrote “Shop Girl Diaries“, a blog about a 28-year-old call girl’s sexual exploits. She landed a six-figure book deal.
- Mary L. Tabor wrote her memoir “Sex After Sixty” live for all of cyberspace to read. It became the book “(Re)Making Love: A Sex After Sixty Story“.
- Shreve Stockton’s “Daily Coyote” blog, which contained photos of and commentary about the coyote pup she raised after its parents were shot, became a book of the same name.
- Pamela Slim’s blog, “Escape from Cubicle Nation“, shows readers how to bust free from their employers and start their own business. The book “Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Enterprise” is a guide containing her best material.
- Walker Lamond’s blog, “Rules for My Unborn Son“, offered fatherly advice on how to be a good man. The book of the same name offers a collection of advice from father to son.
- During the worst year of his life, Canadian Neil Pasricha decided to focus on the positive and came up with 1,000 wonderful things most people take for granted, posting one each day on his blog, “1,000 Awesome Things“. “The Book of Awesome” contains 200 of his awesome things.
These writers drove traffic to their websites.
They wrote great content.
They blogged often.
They were discovered.
But you will need to go the extra mile to make your blog stand out from the pack.
“The Chronicles of Canada Slim” is my first footstep on this journey.
Here are a few tips:
- Put yourself in your blog. Be personal. Share your thoughts and feelings. The more personality you put into your blog, the more it will stand out.
- Interact. Engage with your readers. Allow visitors to comment and join in the discussion. Give your readers a reason to return.
- Find an angle. Readers want content that speaks to them personally. Think about what your personality, interests and expertise bring to the conversation.
- Go beyond the obvious. Try to find something new to say that has not been said a hundred times before.
- Post regularly.
I agree with Anais Nin’s assessement:
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.“
Above: Anais Nin (1903 – 1977)
We all deserve a place at the table, a voice, a chance to live with bold intentions.
Too often too many people drift through their own lives, letting themselves be steered down the paths of least resistance.
They have PhDs in self-restraint, black belts in people-pleasing and a knack for lassoing their ambitions before they wander too far.
I am a believer in kaizen – the art of continuous improvement.
Every day is a good day to aim higher and figure out what exactly is holding you back.
Sometimes we need to get out of our own way, to find the courage and confidence to take risks and to boldly go where we have never gone before.
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.” (Maya Angelou)
Above: Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014)
I write this blog for you, gentle readers, and I write this blog for myself.
Let us journey together and discover the power of our awesomeness.
Sources:
- The Digital Nomad Handbook (Lonely Planet)
- Mad Science, edited by Randy Alfred (Little, Brown and Company)
- How to Blog a Book, Nina Amir (Writer’s Digest Books)
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Ballantine Books)
- This Day in Business History, Raymond L. Francis (McGraw Hill)
- Art Day by Day, edited by Alex Johnson (Thames & Hudson)
- Braver by the Day, Eva Olsen (Castle Point Books)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (Harvell Secker)