The Unrestrained Idea

This blog began as a personal challenge. I wanted to see whether I could summon the energy and enforce enough discipline upon myself to write every day for 3 years — or 999 days. At first I didn’t mind what I wrote — sometimes poetry, other times commentary and even simple links through to other sites.

But a funny thing happened. The blog began to take a shape of its own accord. And as I wrote, the focus and tone became more definite. It is still a work in progress, but my challenge has shifted from one of simply writing, to an even more personal challenge — to write with an authentic voice.

What do I mean by this? It comes down to stripping back my ideas and thoughts. I am aiming for clarity of expression … but also clarity of emotion. It is easy for one to obscure the other, or for words to get in the way of meaning. It is way, way too easy to lapse into jargon.

Russell Davies talks about blogging as being a personal archive of ideas and that those ideas do not need to be breathtaking or "high interest". And one of the comments to this article points to a Simon Waldman article in The Guardian. I was not able to find it, but I did find a great article by Jem Stone detailing Simon’s visit to the BBC where he discussed the shifting nature of journalism. What he talks about is what this article is actually doing … showing how multiple blog entries come together to create something that is greater in value than a single piece in isolation.

So, while one entry may start as a transient idea … there is the potential for it to combine with other unrestrained ideas in some chaotic way. And this new knowledge may actually help someone understand a situation … or may help germinate new ideas. The message is clear — it is all about content. It is about collaboration. And it is about the comment as much as the article!

S.

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