You’re a writer, you know how it goes. Nobody reads your stuff – unless people do, and then you’re not reading this because you’re busy having your stuff read.
As I mature (like wine and cheese, not like milk and fish left on the counter a little too long), I’ve come to understand that maybe I am not a writer.
I mean, I AM a writer, in that I love to write and enjoy it and do it every day.
But, you know the joke that says “87% of people sing in the shower, and the rest are idiots. Do you know the song the 87% sing?” If you don’t know the song, well, now, what does that make you?
I love to sing. I’m bad at it, but I like it. I do it every day. I’ve written a bunch of songs. None of them are good. Like I change the lyrics to something better when I sing them – even doo-be-doo is better than what I wrote.
Not the point.
My stepson used to arrange things in the shopping cart at Trader Joes. He was, like, ten years old, and assumed the role of “The Organizer.” He loved to stack stuff in the cart, peas over here, bread on this side, macaroni products in the back…
You look at this post right now and think “maybe I’ll just scroll on to something interesting…”
Wait! Visit WhistleBump.com first!
Ah, a link and a silly name! What is this?
Try this on for size: Everything you were supposed to learn somewhere else. Explained here.
That’s what WhistleBump is all about. Five sites that teach you the stuff you probably were already told but, you know, you were, like, thinking about something else or something. You know? One about how to cook, another about how to garden, one for cars, one for DIY stuff, and one that will talk about how to read stuff like leases and bank statements.
I didn’t write them – that last one isn’t even written yet. I came up with the ideas and the structures, and had the AI do the actual writing.
To be honest, I have to fine-tooth-comb every post because AI really stands for “appoximated information.” But the AI lets me make the illustrations, and that’s fun.
So, I’m not writing nearly as much as I’m organizing and editing and curating and illustrating. And I think I like it.
The whole purpose of this blog, and of the first website, called SkippityWhistles.com, was to help me promote my novels. But now there’s this WhistleBump enterprise, and it’s a full-time job.
There’s some sort of a parable about the farmer who needs to add oil to the tractor, but the door hinge on the barn lets out a prodigious squeak, so he has to tend to that. Then he notices that one of the hinges is missing a screw. In looking for a screw he tips over his tool box and the drill bits go flying everywhere. It takes forever to round them up and in so doing notices there’s been an ant invasion in the barn. So he goes and gets some bug spray to deal with the ants. And the sun goes down and the tractor still needs oil.
It’s the business of writing, isn’t it? There you are in your lonely garret, typing away at your life’s work only to pause and read this post – bless you, child – never knowing about the all-consuming business of being a writer that lies beyond your finished, polished words.
Well, if you need some advice on that, visit WhistleBump.com!
Yep, that’s a plug through and through, isn’t it?
In the mean time, I, I, I think I feel a song coming on….