Four Years and all you'll get is some musings about blogging and pictures? Yeah :-)

Sheesh, I've been avoiding to write this one because of the (irritating) feeling that I got to do stuff before I start celebrating something ... but my blog here got 4 years old last Saturday and I can't just ignore that, can I? But other than pestering people with half-cooked ideas (as usual) I wanted to share something with those following the blog instead of just, you know, tell you all how happy I am with the blogging and whatnot. Let's see where this goes. I'll also sprinkle it with some autumn impressions of the area I just moved to (got a new camera and did some testing instead of posting) ...

4 Years of Blogging!

So that just happened. Let's start this with a quote, something Zhuangzi allegedly wrote in a book 2500 years ago:

“Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger.”

We will get back on this soon. I remember when I started people had some doubts that I'd be able to keep this thing alive, so 4 years and running is kind of a big thing for me. Others were all like what am I trying to do here and do I get any money for the work I'm putting into it. Well, I told them and I'm going to tell you: in this day and age you got to do something to show people you are able to do something. Especially when it's about "creative work". One might be a talented writer (or whatever), but without writing that book nobody will find out.

But there is more to writing and blogging. Talent doesn't do jackshit if you are not practicing. I don't believe you need to write every day and even on the "bad" days or what else they're trying to sell tell you. But what's certainly true is that you need to make it a part of your routine. Read, think, write, read a little more, take a picture, write, play some more, eat something good, write a bit. But make writing a part of all of it.

The more I think about it, the less I think it's about getting good, too. It's about getting to a point where you just do. I think the hardest thing about writing is being able too express ideas ... unfiltered. Sounds simple, but I've seen otherwise far to often. People think and write something completely different and don't even see what just happened. I've done some editing for others and sometimes I was able to guess what they where thinking while they wrote something else entirely. Or more precise, by seeing what was missing in their writing I could guess how they were thinking what they wrote would express what they meant ... See what I mean?

Anyway, there's nothing more honest than a text by someone that can't write. And there is nothing more complicated than expressing a thought or idea unbiased or, better yet, untainted by the one writing it down. You might ask yourself right now what the hell I'm aiming for here. Well, after four years I think I'm starting to get somewhere with this blog as it's not that much about the writing part anymore, but about sharing ideas instead. I know I can put down a text if I have an idea to write about other than having an idea and no clue how to write about it.

And I'm happy and content that things move. I feel like I know things. Then I start writing my very own fantasy heart breaker and all is lost. It's actually difficult to write rules, but even more so to write a book full of rules. Let me tell you a story any time, but writing rules in a comprehensive way? That's a completely new kind of hell. So after four years of blogging I'm right where I started and when I sat down to write this post I remembered the wisdom of Zhuangzi. One is in danger if he pursues knowledge. I believe this is a comforting thought. I believe we could do worse than stepping back every once in a while and just do.

So I stopped worrying and kept writing. It's what I'll keep doing, content with knowing that I know nothing and getting it done anyway.

But it's also about giving, isn't it ...

Anyway, thank you all for hanging around for the last few years. This is a great corner of the internet and there are lots of great people around, reading, writing and commenting. I'm having a great time here! And for the giving part, I'm really close to publishing an early beta of Lost Songs of the Nibelungs, like, "it's going to happen the next few days" close. So stay tuned for when I try to explain how my fantasy heart breaker is supposed to work. There is just one more little thing I need to do ...