A friend of mine is a professional journalist. For over 20 years, he's made a living by writing for print media or doing features for a national TV broadcaster. When I told him I was going to take a shot at writing online reviews and opinions, he looked at me and said something along the lines of, "You know, it's not as easy as you might think. Everybody has a half a dozen thoughts, opinions, or issues on which they can easily write, and after that, you've actually got to do the work - researching the facts and citations, structuring the written presentation, deciding where to place the perspective, and so on."
Well, he's probably right. In my case, I blew through the first few articles easily, but number 10 has been started and stopped three times now, and I'm starting to be afraid it's not simply a case of writer's block. If nothing else, I've really come to appreciate the writers on BC that consistently crank out articles with quality AND quantity in mind.
Is it possible that most of us have only have a half dozen things to say worth saying? And what do we do after we've had our say six times (give or take)?
Maybe there's no right answer: the virtual world is still writing and rewriting its parameters for social norms, codes of conduct, and quality control. I guess in the meantime, I'll stick with the simple catchall answer that seems to work for me most of the time - suck it up and keep on keepin' on (and I think I just wrote article ten!)
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Skeet,
Ah, the curse of the critic. Just how many ways are there to basically say "you rock" or "you suck"? That is unless you are Griel Marcus. Or I guess it's maybe more like Simon Cowell these days.
Anyway, for whatever it's worth Skeet, I think you're doing just fine. But if it helps, I'll tell you that sometimes spinning a personal yarn or annecdote around an album can help. Or if you prefer, you can get all analytical if you have unique knowledge about an artist--something I think you're already pretty good at anyway.
So about this professional journalist friend of yours? He have any connections?
-Glen
2 - JC Mosquito
Hi, Glen. Thanx for the thumbs up, and I'll roll those suggestions around in my head. I just don't want to be filling the site with poorly written, poorly researched and poorly constructed drivel. I'm sure nothing offends a strong writer like yourself than reading an article so shabbily assembled that you don't even want to respond for fear of encouraging more of the same.
I suppose prose writing is similar to songwriting - you just have to keep working at it and develop your craft in order to carry your art when inspiration needs a little (or a lot of) help.