MediocreMan

I Have Proof · 13 October 2018

Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort
giving a simultaneous exhibition
by Stefan64
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

I have proof that people actually read my blog. Okay. I have proof that at least one person reads my blog. And that proof is too funny not to share.

My friend Mike reads my blog every week. And I know he does because he gives me little digs here and there to make fun of me. I even occasionally write about him and my other friend Marc, who also reads my blog. They love to make fun of me. It is their love language. At least toward me.

At any rate, Mike decided to take the plunge after reading my blog one week. He joined an online chess tournament. And as of this writing, he has ten simultaneous games going. Ten. He says he can barely handle one. But ten!? What in the world is going on?

I had to laugh when he told me that. I laughed out loud even though he told me over the chat in our chess game. And I laugh every time he gives me an update about how things are going. Which is not well. He always says, “I can barely handle one chess game… Let alone, ten!” He always gives me something to laugh about.

It is nice to know that I have such influence on my readers. Or at least half of my readers. The other one just likes to use my writing as ammunition for ridiculing me. Which is great because they both give me things to write about from time to time. I would daresay that next to God and family, I write about Mike and Marc more than any other subject (beside, of course, my own ramblings, rather musings). M&M (Mike is the green one) are my favorite foils. They are my friends and surely my most consistent and longstanding readers. I thank them for reading all my drivel for all these years. And I thank them for keeping me humble with their offhanded comments and forthright critiques of my silly little blog.

Actually, I am sure I have more than two readers. There are at least a few more. (Not including the imaginary ones.) And I thank them for reading too. The strange thing about writing though is that it does not really matter whether people read my blog or my books or anything else I write. Yes, I would surely love it if everybody read my blog. Yes, I would love to sell a couple more books. Yes, I would like people to comment on my writing. But in the end, I just write because it is what I am supposed to do. I am a writer. Period.

Which means that the answer to the question of whether a writer is a writer even if he has no readers is yes. At least in his own mind. Still, I am glad that I have some proof people read my writing. Especially, when that proof is so funny.

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Irony · 6 October 2018

It is ironic that I posted my musing about having a large writing inventory when my inventory was low. Or at least lower than it was when I originally wrote it.

I love irony. (My friend Mike would love it if I loved ironing. But that is a much different word. And story.) I love when the words you say (or write) are the opposite of what you mean. I even love it when this happens by accident.

I really did have a big inventory of writing when I wrote about having a big inventory of writing. I just never had the opportunity to post it. There were other timely writings that I had to post. Or that I wanted to post. Which meant that the post about having an inventory kept getting pushed back.

It was nice when my inventory was large (a few weeks of posts is large to me), but when it came down to it, I finally posted it when I had just a small inventory. (I ran out of posts or the ones I had were not timely.) Which is, of course, ironic. And maybe a bit moronic.

There are times when I should probably post more than one blog post a week. When I have more than one timely piece. But I always think I have time to post those secondary posts. So I save them up and post them a week or so later. When they are not quite as timely. It is okay though. I am sure my readers (both real and imaginary) do not mind. After all, I am just musing not amusing. So it does not really matter when I am musing.

Like I said, my writing is probably moronic as much as ironic.

When I think of real writers writing real irony, I think of Marc Antony’s speech in Julius Caesar. “Brutus is an honorable man.” Over and over again, “Brutus is an honorable man.” Shakespeare knew irony. As did Mark Twain and many other wonderful writers. Of course, the best thing about good writers of irony is that you know what they are saying even when they are saying the opposite thing. (Ever heard of A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift?)

At any rate, I do enjoy irony. Saying the opposite of what I mean is fun. And I find it amusing that I posted my piece about having a large inventory when I actually had a small inventory. Even though I never meant it to be, it was a nice piece of irony. (And a little bit of poetry.)

I know. More moronic than ironic. Ah well.

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Writing Inventory · 29 September 2018

I have not been in the position much, but I have enough writing inventory for my blog that I can make choices.

One of the interesting things about writing a weekly blog is that I have this self-imposed deadline. I release my blog on Saturday, but I put it out there early on social media on Thursdays (#ThursdayThoughts). Then I actually repost again on Monday (#MondayBlogs). I am not much of a self-promoter so I figure a couple posts of essentially the same link is not too much of a big deal. I am not getting myself out there too much, but enough that I get a new reader here and there. Or at least somebody new who likes my tweet or facebook post. (It really does happen every once in a while.)

I used to live in fear of my deadline. I would worry that I would not have something to post. But those were the days before social media (if you believe such a time existed). I was not very serious about writing then. I was still just dreaming that somebody would find me and want to represent me in front of all those big publishing houses (I am still up for that, by the way). But I was only writing one day a week and then posting to my feeble blog. (Yes, I know. It is still feeble.) So that deadline loomed large. Writing and editing and polishing and posting on Saturday was not fun. I dreamed of the day when I would have more time to do some actual editing and polishing rather than just reading it once after I had written it and then posting. Sure. Sometimes I still just put stuff out there without much polish, but that is what a hack with a website does. Especially one who is still striving to become mediocre.

But back to the deadline.

Back in the day, that deadline loomed. Like the sword of Damocles. I would write furiously for my allotted time and post whatever came to my head. Such were the beginnings of MediocreMan.

Now that I write six days a week, the looming deadline does not seem so malevolent. Sometimes I still throw something together and post it, but usually I have time to actually edit and polish. Which brings me back to my original thought. I now have an inventory of blog posts and so I have choices.

The odd thing about choices is that sometimes the choices are not so great. Mediocre even. (What did you think?) But more than that, sometimes the choices are not timely. Sure. I have blog posts that transcend time. But there are also ones that have an expiration date. Ones that do not mean much if not posted at the right time. You might think that drivel has no expiration date, but it does. Or at least it can.

Ah well. I must admit that I am enjoying my time with a little inventory. I am enjoying my time of having choices. For I know that there will come a time when I am down to nothing. When I have spent all my time creating or editing or polishing other writing projects. When life is hectic and time is short. When that deadline looms like the fabled sword of Damocles.

Hopefully, that time is long in coming. But who knows. All I know is that currently, I am happy that I have a few choices on what to post on my blog. I am happy to have a writing inventory.

[I actually posted this when I had little inventory. How ironic.]

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