As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted anything in exactly a month after my first personal foray into writing anime reviews. This was due to a number of reasons, most of which are mistakes that I own up to. One of them is not being able to write in a relaxed manner for my own website (a place where I’m supposed to be able to hang loose).
After having thought of it for a month, I realized that some things needed to changed and others have to be fully sacrificed. Writing is my life, despite my lack of literary competence, so I have to start getting serious. But in order to do that, I have to make my writing much less serious and more in-tune to my raw emotions regarding chosen topics.
Reflections on Writing
The aforementioned review clocked in at nearly 4,500 words and took around 4 days to complete, which is an admirable effort but also wasteful. After posting it, I struggled to write anything else on my own spare time for what turned out to be exactly 30 days.
The cause for that gap can’t really be attributed to writer’s block since I had been writing for work through all that time. But whenever I’m not working, I couldn’t get myself to do anything else due to depression, which was triggered by a chain of events during April which I’d rather refrain from elaborating.
From here, I could do a few things to make up for my lack of initiative. First of all, I will post a condensed (and stylized) version of that review and put it up for comparison with the original to learn more on how I should write for this blog in the near future.
Perhaps I’ll start posting more reviews from the backlog, which I have piled up in my Evernote account. There are also quite a few pieces that I’ve already filled in quite a bit that just needs a bit of editing to be ready for posting here.
I do need to change the overall writing style though with reader engagement in mind. It’s an ongoing process to find that voice that my writings can take without being forced or contrived. There are a few ideas like regular features, top 10 lists, and so on.
These ideas are worth going over.
Rediscovering the Voice
Lately, my struggle with writing is mostly on finding my own voice, which I must have lost during the years of working as a freelance writer. While it hones the technical skills, it seems that it also serves to silence the voice as well.
I should admit that I’ve always been reluctant in writing editorial pieces due to my disdain for any opinion that is either off-base or unbalanced to begin with. But perhaps my OCD when it comes to editorializing has been crippling my ability to write my thoughts.
When it comes to editorials, I look up to Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear, Noah Antwiler of The Spoony Experiment, and Seanbaby of Cracked.com. These are odd people to aspire to, but I do see them as writers who come up with material that I wish I could churn out on my own.
I’ve posted some opinion pieces in this blog before, but I may not be posting enough. It will take some time for me to get into it, but at least I’m now getting back to that process.
Not Promising to Write More
I’ve made tons of promises to write and post more before, and I’ve failed them all. I can’t guarantee action on my part, but I’m quite sure that the past month had been a good learning experience for me as a writer. If I do know what’s good for me in the long run, I’ll push the envelope and write more for both work and leisure.
But of course, that’s if I do know what’s good for me.
