This website was started during the COVID pandemic. That was over 5 years ago and this is now my 97th post. My list of ‘top 100 tags+++’ have covered an eclectic range of things. I am both surprised and encouraged by that. Also that I am still going. Yet this past year I have slowed down. Despite liking to write, the process has not got any easier. Mostly it is more hard work than riding some creative wave. 

In my experience there are several issues that consistently present themselves in the art of blogging.

My story is not interesting
I think no one is curious regarding the ordinariness of my life. When an unusual event or life occasion occurs it is often motivating to write. Something concrete or factual that is part of my experience is easier to relate. Yet most of my days are routine and fairly unremarkable. And facts on their own are unlikely to foster much interest. Especially so in an age when information is an abundant currency. Describing authentically my feelings and observations is the spice in the mix. 

Not wanting to appear vulnerable
To a degree I believe people don’t need to know things that are too personal. Yet there is a paradox. Being human is what we are all engaged in. A part of that is our fragility, our weaknesses and struggles in the business of living. Most of us are drawn to people being themselves. Many things we struggle with are common to us all. I think too much of what you, the reader, might think.

“what is most universal is most personal and indeed nothing human is strange to us“.

‘Reaching Out’, Henri Nouwen

Starting to write but never finishing
There are dozens of half formed written down ideas that I never seem to progress on. Writers block is part of the experience for me. If I try to force things I tend to just dry up. Maybe that scrap of an idea will bear fruit in the future. In the meantime they lie like seeds buried in the dark soil.

The search for inspiration
One effect of struggling to write is the need for inspiration becomes apparent. Ideas seldom come in a vacuum. Personal life experience is an important ingredient in the mix. However I am also led to people who are good communicators. If I aspire to write I need to read – widely and deeply. I am thinking not so much of the myriad of things that can be read on phone or tablet. The content often served up curated by some algorithm. They have their place. However I refer more to the sustained concentration needed to choose, commit to and read a book. The irony that this 6 minute piece is in a medium that is prey to AI bots, search engine optimisation, infinite scrolling etc. is not lost on me! However, as said it has its place.

How and what to read is important. Despite a lifetime’s acquaintance with books I am aware of the need to read more broadly. Recently I came across two different books on the practice and discipline of reading. The former was titled ‘Every Day I Read’. Written by Hwang Bo-reum, a South Korean woman. It was a delightful reminder in 53 short chapters of reasons to read regularly. The choice of author was deliberate. Most books I read are written by men and usually of similar ethnic and cultural background to myself.

The second book was more academic but also practical and challenging. ‘Deep Reading’ was, to me at least, written in an unusual way. The book has three authors – Ooms, Griffis, and De Smith Roberts. All women and professors of English teaching in Christian colleges in the US. For nearly all of the 400+ pages they wrote in the first person plural ‘we’. Surely a monumental act of collaboration in itself. Anyhow, more to the point, the aim of their book is revealed in the subtitle – ‘Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile and Consumeristic Age’.

They made a powerful case that the discipline of ‘deep’ reading transforms you into a more attentive, kinder, tolerant and less transactional person. By all means read about subjects you are naturally drawn to. Yet there are also times to read works whose premise you disagree with. You can learn from books that you have little interest in or are out of your depth. Open yourself to genres you don’t gravitate to. People with a different worldview may teach you something. Sometimes read out loud and also reread some books. Don’t look at ticking off number of books read just for the sake of it. We can ingest books in an unhealthy way. Consumerism doesn’t just affect our life in the material world. Our intellectual and spiritual life can, sadly, be treated as a commodity. The authors contend that if more of us read in these ways the world would be a better place.

Of course reading is only one form of nourishment for the imagination. Listening to podcasts, audiobooks, lectures and radio can be part of the mix.. Discussions over a coffee. Our interior life is enriched by many things. For example I enjoy listening to ‘In Our Time’ podcasts on the BBC. Over 1,000 episodes covering a vast range of subjects from culture, history, philosophy, religion and science. The style is that three experts are quizzed for 45-50 minutes on their expertise. They are chosen not only for their specialist knowledge but also for being good and enthusiastic communicators. Almost any topic no matter how dry or obscure sounding can come alive if those narrating are passionate and engaging. Broadening my learning in such ways helps me appreciate more the wonder of the world and the times we live in.

These are a few things that are part and parcel of my learning to post. No doubt the process changes me more than you, the reader. Knowing however that you have read this makes it all the more enriching, thank you!

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