As normally happens, someone sent me something that made me begin to ponder, ruminate, and of course write another post. And as is also normal, over the course of my writing I digressed returning to the main point several times, often in the same paragraph but even in the same sentence. This is a very unclear way of writing and can make it hard to follow. I know that, yet I continue to do it because that is the way in which I think, I write, and I express myself.
But succinct is better. Clarity is better. Typically it is sagacious to eschew obfuscation happens to be one of my favorite quotes because it so spot on describes what should be done by not doing it. And yet, here I go again.
Years ago there was a Far Side comic of a penguin standing in the middle of a field full of penguins singing, “I gotta be me!” Someone turned it into a poster and colored the chest of the singing penguin blue. To some it was the only way it was funny. Gary Larson believed it completely missed the point. It was funny, just not as funny as the original.
When I began this blog my first post said I would be “. . . yelling into the world wide web [to] look at me, read me.” An overwhelmed voice that continues despite the louder sounds of the winds around it. There truly was (is) a point to it though. It was and is that I have to write, even in my non-sagacious way. It may be easier to get more readers by cleaning up and removing my tangential ramblings or frequent circumlocutions, but it wouldn’t be me. As has been the case in all that I have ever done I would rather be me than just get ahead. It isn’t easy and may not ever work. I may fail to gather a platform of folks that enjoy my writing enough to one day become a commercial success as an author allowing me to quit my day job and simply ramble on writing for a living. But I gotta be me.
What you don’t know about my ramblings is that I often wonder about the people who do read my posts. Am I related to all of them? Where do they come from? Where do they go? How do they find me? And will they ever return?
The analytics on my Squarespace page allows me to see what IP and city the folks that click on my blog are from. That makes me wonder about them sometimes (all the time). It doesn’t say who they are, sometimes only saying that main page of the blog without a post that they clicked on. That really makes me wonder about them. Especially who are they? I’m looking at you Clifton, New Jersey; Menlo Park, California; and Boardman, Oregon. Who is out there reading? I would love a comment to let me know what got you here and what do you think. But I don’t expect them. When they arrive they are lagniappe.
However, you can expect another post in a few days from me. A typical post on an atypical topic. Unless and until I figure out what you want it will be more of the same. Though I suspect that even if I do figure that out it won’t change. I gotta be me, and thank you for your support.