I Want to Write, Not Blog
It’s been over a year since I’ve written here. I doubt very many people will see this post, so I’ll keep it short. A lot has changed since the last time I posted here, and not much has changed at all.
I still get up every day and do something creative. I write poetry, songs, music, essays, articles, posts, whatever. You can find some of that work at my website www.danstevenerickson.com. But something is not quite right. No matter what I do and how I do it, running a website still feels a bit like a blog. It’s just a word. Why should I care? Here’s why…
Because writing on the web (blogging) makes one the center of it all. The writing tends to become more about oneself and their own journey in this life, this world. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that but it becomes repetitive, begins to feel meaningless, all the voices shouting about themselves, so few really listening.
And to just write, about the sun and the moon, the road from Waterboro Maine to Camp Ellis, the sound of the ocean waves in a winter storm, or the tiniest chirps of birds in the predawn, who wants that? Who’s going to read about the trees outside my door that are bending in the wind at this exact moment?
I said a lot has changed since my last post. The biggest change is that I recently moved to the State of Maine. There are a handful of reasons for the move, but that doesn’t matter. That’s all “me” stuff. I’m tired of talking about me, about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. There’s more. I know there is.
2022 is coming to a close. I always get a hankering to write around the New Year. I just want this year to be different. My current website, www.danstevenerickson.com, started out as a showcase for my writing, music, and poetry. It’s still pretty much what I’m doing there. But that “me” thing keeps slipping back into my work. I tell readers what I’m going to do, where it’s all leading, instead of just doing. And the funny thing is that I never really know what’s coming next. Life and creativity are unpredictable.
That leads to my point. I want to start doing something different in 2023. Something that’s less about me and more about the world around me. Something that’s less about my work and more about helping others become better creatives. What does that look like? I have no clue. I don’t even know if it will happen. I mean, we tend to do this every year, don’t we? Still, I’m going to give it a shot.
I’ll be making some subtle style changes at www.danstevenerickson.com. I’m also considering starting something at Substack. But dammit, I don’t want to blog anymore. I want to write. Here’s to 2023 and the road to whatever happens. — dse
