You Can be a Blogger Too!

I think it is a fallacy that to be a writer, you have to be an interesting person. After all, they always tell you: ‘write what you know.’ If all you have known is a boring life, how can you write about that? Who would want to read it? I have been doing this blog for six years now. While I do not fool myself that this is the New Yorker, I am reasonably pleased with the work I have done. Though I write it mainly for me, it has gotten some notice. This blog seems to be particularly popular in Hong Kong for some reason.

I say all this because I am not an interesting person. Well, I am as interesting as the next guy, but I mean I am not especially interesting. I have not discovered any scientific breakthroughs, ridden a rocket to space, joined the Peace Corps to help people in some dark corner of the world. I have never been in the military, not a doctor, nor ridden the Deadliest Catch ice waves of Alaska. On the other hand, I have not had my city bombed or suffered unspeakable tragedy (knock wood). I have never been oppressed and fought against my oppressors. I have had the minor victories, minor adventures, and minor tragedies that befall most people.

It does not matter if you are average, if you haven’t set the world on fire. You still have stories to tell. Everyone does. You don’t have to have sailed the seven seas to find interesting things. A story about being a bus boy at a restaurant can be interesting if it is well written. And that is just if you “write what you know.” There is no law that says you have to write what you know. That is what imagination is for. That is kind of the whole point of art.

If you don’t think you have stories to tell, you are probably wrong. Getting those stories out in a form that anyone would want to read . . . that is the hard part. But it is attainable with practice. You do get better at writing the more you do it. My first stories were pretty bad if I am honest, but the stories got better as I went along. Excuse me, the stories didn’t get better; the writing got better. So if you have ever had a desire to express yourself, just do it.

Star Liner

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