Saturday

I had good intentions to make a small entry yesterday, but the day got away from me and it just didn't happen. Not that Friday's tend to be that creative.

I've made a little progress on Blog II. Or Blog Revisited. Or Blog Unplugged. Choose your title.

One of the questions that any writer must face is, "Who are you writing for?" More specifically, "Are you writing for an audience, or are you writing for yourself?" It is not necessarily a question that has a simple answer. If a person has determined that writing is programmed into their DNA, then they must write to feed that need. If someone else has figured out that they can write, and that they can parlay that talent into commercial success, you could argue that that writer is reader-driven.

My original motivations for 4000 Days were, 1) to take advantage of the Internet blog to maintain connectivity with my daughters, and 2) to share with them my thoughts and opinions as we all progressed along our separate-but-connected journeys in life. I have thoroughly enjoyed that process over the last 20 months, but I have had a definite erosion in my own satisfaction of a "job well-done". And I have sensed a diminishment in interest among my six readers. (I realize that news on this page of the peloton and NASCAR are both highly anticipated, but other sites may have more details on these items.)

There's that high school commencement speech adage to recognize here; "Find something that you love, and you won't have to work a day in your life." I would argue, in a Clintonesque manner, that the veracity of that adage depends on your definition of the term work. Good writing requires effort. Writing about the days news, or relating anecdotes from the family's past, requires little creativity, and yields only modest satisfaction upon completion. I want more than that.

My current thoughts are to somehow merge in a personal way some of the concepts of information organization from a home page like Yahoo!, with the human interest appeal of various staples from the entertainment industry. I don't want to be a reconfigured Jerry Sienfeld, Matt Dillon (the sheriff!), or Charles Kuralt. But I like the fact that the things these people did, although generally very simple and basic, were good enough to have continued viewer interest years after initial presentation.

I have a good friend who would smack me around at this point and say, "Enough already!! What are you going to do?"

I'm working on it. I have notes. I'm in the structural design phase right now.

One thought is to have a daily segment entitled something like, "A Vicarious Life". I may choose a fictional character to wade through a contemporary scenario of politics, religion, science or travel. There needs to be connectivity to time and family.

Whatever. More on this tomorrow. I'll accept ideas.

In other news. 1 did 17+ today and felt good about it. I'm envious.

The Little League World Series is on. In yesterday's first game, some kid made a final-out, Top Ten leaping catch robbing a batter of a game-winning dinger. And he gets interviewed by Erin Andrews. He had a pretty good day.

The 24 is on the pole for tomorrow's race. His crew chief is back after that bogus 6 week suspension.

Have a great weekend.

Be careful out there.