On Blogs, Vlogs, and Shameless Plugs

I realize not only that it's been a while since I posted but that I've only ever posted maybe once or twice - and for both of these things, as well as a host of others, I'd like to apologize. The truth is that I fell on some pretty hard times physically which sent me back to physical therapy and landed me back on meds. The PT worked wonders where the medication did not. Needless to say, I lost a lot of time and work during that period and am just now getting back around to doing the things I was plotting when this calamity befell me.

One of those things is writing more, and more often. But I have to say that I have moved on from blogging - not altogether, mind you (obviously) - I just feel that it has served its purpose and, despite what some may claim, the point was never money nor fame nor any such thing; for me, blogging was about learning to let go - to stop trying to craft every sentence so perfectly, to stop worrying if every single word was as singularly specific as it could be, if every thought or idea advanced the plot or added depth to the character or story. The point, for me, was learning to write - to write well, to write succinctly (or verbosely, as I was so inclined), and to write quickly.

I've certainly never been one for deadlines.

So it is that I wanted to stop by and say that while I'll still be dropping by from time to time, both to comment as well as enter the errant post, the technology has finally advanced to the point that I feel a different mode of communications is calling. Some call it "vlogging" (idio... Internet slang for "video blogging"), others call it "podcasting," still others call it any number of things. We've no format at this point, no real talking points, nor any plan - much the way I started blogging back in the late '90s when it was called "weblogging" and was used specifically by webmasters to inform visitors as to what we were working on, the techniques and programs we were using, and so forth.

We also do a comedy show on the weekends wherein we "riff" a movie - that is, mock and comment on it as we watch it IRT - specifically in the vein of the classic TV show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. The movies are not screened before we sit down to rip them apart, although we've often seen them and even riffed them previously (as we've been idiots for far longer than almost anyone would imagine), and the entire show is performed live and unscripted before your very eyes. If you miss it (well, I don't know that "miss" is the best choice of words but remember what I said regarding singularity and specificity of language and how blogging helped me learn not to give a shit about it and we'll move right along), the recording is available the following day on The Weirding YouTube Channel.

I love writing and always have; I vividly recall the first "real" story I wrote, as well as the second. By the fifth grade, I wrote a story every week featuring my unmarried, former nun, teacher and her beau. The entire class had to write these stories, employing that week's vocabulary list, and I never failed to dazzle, baffle, and amuse. I was hooked. I wrote and performed plays in highschool, and had already been published twice by the time I was a highschool Freshman.

Writing is what I do and always will be.

But I am excited by this new frontier and the opportunities it presents - which includes the option of scripting material, both to be delivered as well as performed. And I'd really love for some of you to follow along, or at least check it out from time to time (we'll get better eventually, I promi... inevitably - I mean, we have to, right? Right!?). In return, I'll drop by from time to time and give you a written... whatever - update, report, look behind the scenes.  Who knows, maybe we will even end up collaborating on something at some point.

Meanwhile, keep writing and keep reading! I met Christine some five years or more ago on a blogging site and she hasn't given up yet, so I don't think she's going to anytime soon. Take a page from her book, as corny as that sounds, and do the same.

Also, come check us out. We have big things planned. We are not very likely to actually do these Big Things but they are planned. Well, we have discussed setting aside some time in the future for planning. So. You do not want to miss that!

- C Harris Lynn, 2014
www.theweirding.net