I have been thinking a lot about voice lately, and how successful people have distinct voices. I define "successful people" as being those folks lucky enough to make a living doing what they want while getting invited to all the cool parties. My calendar by comparison is completely open this weekend with no prospects of being filled up. You draw your own conclusions there.
Everybody has a voice by what they do, say & write, but not all of us are aware of that voice. Being unaware, we cannot cultivate our voice to become truly distinct individuals. I believe that has happened to me. In my efforts to produce a blog worthy of notice, I have become very serious and blog out of duty, not joy. I'm also a wee bit tired of writing about Depression, ADHD, and my horrendous foot odor. I mean, you don't need to know that the neighbors have filed formal complaints with city hall or that somebody keeps stapling Odor-Eaters Durable Insoles to my front door, and yet I go on and on about it.
But I digress.
I mostly looked at the new year and wondered if I was happy plodding along as I was doing. It was as if I had started to cross a bridge and was stopped somewhere in the middle of it, walking in place furiously and getting no nearer to the other side than when I began. I wanted to blog more spontaneously. Have fun with it. Let my hair down so to speak. Unloosen the tie — plus other metaphoric imagery that explains how dull I had made blogging for myself by creating a backlog of entries stretching out into the next millenium, entries that I felt obligated to finish before tackling new ones.
I also feared I had become defined by Depression, ADHD, and Chronic Motor Tic Disorder. Was that all I was about? Did I want to be a blogger or an author? And why did I spend so much time on Twitter if I was too bored to blog but pined to write?
That's when I got this great idea for a detective series featuring a depressed blogger with ADHD who spends his days on Twitter solving socnet murder mysteries. I think it's gonna be a blockbuster.
In the meantime, I've deleted all my drafts and am starting the new year with a fresh slate. I can't wait to tell you what I've been doing this month with goal making for absentminded people or the progress (and setbacks) I've made in my fight against SAD.
As usual I live for your comments, so please let me know what you think. Do you have expectations for this blog? Need to see me write more about a subject like base jumping for nearsighted depressives? Now's the time to speak up. This year is well on its way, and I might just have an idea about which direction I want to head in this time.
