Several people have told me to write whatever I like. I like that. Freedom is good right? Right, but it’s also wrong.
Of course I write whatever I like. I always write whatever I like. That’s kind of the point of writing. Well, to me it is. I think the challenge I seek is to simply write what I think – whatever I like – about something unpredictable. I enjoy that sense of variation. Does that make any sense?
In a way I do like writing prompts. I just don’t like the cliche ones, and the vomit inducing stories they inspire. I just want a friend – or anyone, I don’t care who to be honest – to nudge me in a way that says ‘What do you think about this, Robin?’
A friend I’ve known for almost twenty years once told me – almost that long ago: ‘You know, I may not be highly educated or anything, but I know a little bit about many things. Ask me anything. I’m really world smart.’ That concept stuck with me. And it’s true, this guy is perhaps not highly educated, but he can tell a hell of a story, and I would even say he’s a world expert in several things. An absolutely gifted mind. He can also sell an SUV to a Greenpeace protester, so he is convincing as fuck. I may have many more diplomas, but he makes twice my salary and doesn’t have a student loan he’s paying off.
He’s world smart!
And I like that. People that can tell you something about anything. I’d like to think that I’m reasonably good at that. However, I want to be fucking amazing at it. Because that’s how my brain operates. Be the best you can be, or be bored to death.
So, when I hear that I should write whatever I like, I get a little anxious. What do I like anyway? Should I write a daily post about my day, every day. Nah. Nobody cares. Heck, I don’t even care.
I think I need a certain predictable unpredictability. Predictable in the sense that it should pop up out of somewhere. Unpredictable in that I cannot do background research, so it must be original. If readers can’t give it to me, I might just try a random word generator and try one week of writing post about the first randomly generated word I find.
Let’s see how world smart I can be.
(Let’s see how interesting a story about toilets, barbed wire, or door knobs, or any random theme can get)
(Let me know if it gets to painful though!)
Robin Heinen 