I was finally able to come to grips with the blogdentity crisis I was having. This whole blogging experiment for me was to see if I could write, and to find my “voice” and a comfortable writing groove so I could write my magnum opus, and maybe even a book.
I discovered I could write well enough to make some people chuckle out loud. Not laugh mind you, and my writing elicited nary a guffaw, but I did get enough chuckles to press onward.
I wrote some satirical pieces. I learned a valuable lesson about sharing satire on Facebook. Don’t do it. If it is good satire, your Facebook “friends” may not get it, and then they get upset because they think it is real, and then you have to explain that it is not real and they shouldn’t get all worked up, and it is a thoroughly exhausting experience. So I learned a valuable lesson and got past that.
I wrote some things that just cracked me up, and every time I review those, I still chuckle, and sometimes even guffaw. They are hilarious, in my mind. So why do some of those posts have absolutely zero “likes?” It took a bit of self-reflection to understand that my sense of humor is just a bit darker than coal, and it is probably in my best interest that my friends and family don’t know that I can find the lighter side of ISIS.
I found I could garner a lot of blog interest with political posts during this campaign season, especially with all the “colorful” personalities involved to this point. I found that Trump-related posts did especially well. But is that really writing? I can take a real-life headline from this campaign, post it in my blog, and some may confuse the real story with fine satire. Some of what has happened on the campaign trail certainly cannot be true, except it is. Writing campaign comedy is almost too easy when the reality starts out so funny. I’m doing my best to start weaning myself off the campaign funnies, and as the Huckabees, Pauls, O’Malleys, Christies, et al disappear from the campaign trail, I start looking more critically at the remaining candidates as less humorous and more disturbing/disturbed.
So I have struggled with and worked though some blogging issues, definitely a first-world problem. Just as I was getting comfortable, my work situation has now become more demanding and I have book chapters in my head that are begging to be written, in effect threatening to shake down my blog for its lunch money. I don’t want to stop blogging. My legion of loyal followers would not stand for that, and I could envision both of their lives being ruined without my blog. I just couldn’t do that to my parents. So Jim Flanigan Looks at the World will continue on, but maybe in a different format. Some things you may expect in the future are …
- Shorter posts.
- Pithier, definitely pithier.
- Fewer graphics, but perhaps just a touch more nudity, definitely of the full frontal variety. No, not in my blog, but personally when I am writing.
- Sandwich humor. You know, ham on wry.
- More emojis to fill space!
- More relatable posts about problems we all have like depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, addictive behavior, and the lighter side of self-mutilation.
Fewerless big words.- Writing in a cockney accent, eh Guvnah?
- Guest writers, or perhaps just links to other people’s blogs. That sounds easier.
- Blatantly plagiarized posts.
So you, loyal follower (hi mom & dad), have a lot to look forward to coming up in the 2016 blogging season of Jim Flanigan Looks at the World. I hope it proves to be your cup of tea, know wot Oy mean Guvnah?
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 