Uploaded to Flickr by thorinside on June 30, 2007
I’ve been on another sabbatical from the blog and I’m surprised at how many of you have frequently returned to check on updates. For that I thank you, and I appologize for my absence, but the blog benefits from my periodical recession. I’ve come to realize that each time I leave the blog for a time, I return with a fresh perspective on how I would like to redesign its content and subject matter. Each time it becomes more refined. Each time it evolves into something better.
I was writing with a friend over coffee recently when I came across an article titled something like “50 Rules for Writers”.
I scoffed. 50 rules? Seemed a bit much. But I read anyway. Rule #4: Specialize. This sent me into a stir. How can I specialize into a single field? Which field would I ever choose: Poetry? Fiction? Nonfiction? What about genres: Fantasy? Nature? Philosophy? Academia? The formats even can be specialized: Blog? Novel? Article? I’ve always been a generalist, and it took two years to even settle on a major in college.
As always, my friend helped calm me down. He later approached me in my backyard during one of my nature stints. I was crawling around on all fours with my head in the grass.
“Whatcha doing?” he asked.
“Tracking my own footsteps.”
“Listen,” he said, “Maybe you shouldn’t take this ’50 Rules’ thing so seriously. Don’t worry about specializing. They like to put you in a box so they know whom to call whenever they need a ‘such-and-such’ article written. You don’t have to set out saying ‘I’m going to write only ‘these kinds’ of articles.’ Just write what you write and you’ll refine yourself along the way.” He paused for a moment, “So what I’m saying then is to focus yourself without pigeon-holing yourself.”
I pulled my head out of the grass. He was right. “You’re right,” I told him. “There’s a difference between proclaiming yourself a specialized writer on the outset and writing whatever it is that calls to you, and then slowly refining yourself into a unique shape.”
It’s like carving down a tree. You can process it in the lumber yard, cutting through with a buzz saw on a conveyor belt to reach its desired shape and size to look like all the others. Or you can slowly carve the tree down by hand with a series of hand tools. The latter requires much more effort, but the remaining shape will be uniquely yours, and in the end, that is your craft. The shavings that remain on the floor signify each step toward a finer, more complete you.
In order to focus without specializing, I’ve learned to look, not toward a particular subject to focus on, but toward the common denominator in all of my writings. I have discovered this: that nature is my home and my sanctuary, that when I’m not writing, I am philosophizing or tracking or learning plants or ancient fire building techniques. It’s survival. I’m a nature writer. And the Cosmological Principle—this is my nature blog.
I agree with you.
When I started my blog, I tried to pick a centralized theme for it. After many frustrating days of this, I decided to just make it a place for all of my observations – no categories. However, I do try to keep a common voice throughout. I feel that it anchors my blog, even when the subject matter is quite random.