Stumped

Whenever I struggle to write something I go back to what has worked for me in the past. Especially when I hate everything I put down on the page. This isn’t a new thing for me of course. It happens on occasion. I get blocked by either too many ideas or none at all. The ‘too many’ side of the coin usually means I have some germ of a thought that might work for a blog post. The blog website is always in the back of my mind. These ‘germs’ only get started growing before I smother them in the soil like an invasive weed. Last night I started on about corporate morality or some such thing. It’s an idea that just didn’t work. I didn’t stay with it long, an hour or so at most. It’s never a good thing when lose the thrust of the argument in complex jargon.

I eventually had to stop and ask myself in very clear language “What are you trying to say?”  

That’s often the best measure for trying to think my way around a particular problem. Try to summarize it one or two sentences and then work from there to whittle it down like raw basswood. The rest of the time the problem is the point I’m making requires way more information and knowledge than I have time for. It’s too broad for a simple blog post. I haven’t always worked through the thought process anyway. Nothing is wrong with figuring that out in the course of a writing session. Although when pinched for time it just invites more frustration. Not everything can be wrapped up in 55 minutes like an episode of CSI. 

But real blogging is quick posts and angry screeds right? Yes and No.

Nothing is consistent about individual blogs except the inconsistency of them. But what do we expect when we turn the internet lose and tell be people to be creative? There are as many fashion and food blogs as opinions and videos all littering the space like a newsstand after a tornado. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to information people post about. It’s better to start at a small ‘blade of grass’ view and expand the lens outward capturing the valleys while moving toward the ranges.

One method that works well is a personal anecdote that follows a larger narrative. This is also how I think about the world.

 I’ve noticed a reduced interest in youth football since I started working in sporting goods. Each year the overall numbers of kid sign ups drops by around 10 to 15 percent. Those are purely my figures but after talking with a lot of directors it’s clear that parents are scared of long term effects of concussion on their kids. No one ever complains about concussions from soccer, especially for girls, but it’s also very high. Expand that local view out to other states and the trends are similar, so are the reasons. I did a quick google search on the declining numbers and read a short Forbes article, here. The author doesn’t have a prescription, other than some ‘football needs to change’ line. The reasons for the decline were beyond the scope of the article so I can’t criticize too much.

Writing often works this way for me. I identify a local problem and move toward a larger pattern across the country. I could go a couple of ways with it as well. Either focus why football declines and not other sports with similar head injuries, or why now and not a decade ago? I could also investigate why girls suffer higher rates of concussion than boys, also a Forbes article. No one is sure why this is of course, but I’ll bet parents aren’t nearly as aware of that as they are about football being a concussion laden sport.

Sometimes I think I should have been a journalist. 

Anyway I’ll get back to what I do best and write what I know. Done complaining for now.