Change your blogging attitude for blogging inspiration? I know I said I’d never write another blogging tips post, but I lied . . . sort of. I caught glimpse of some Twitter Tweets where a few people voiced their lack of blogging inspiration or they were a little burned out. So . . . what is the cure? What can you do to incite blogging passion–to get excited about writing? Fire breathing, over the top full throttle freaking blogging excitement? Well, I have a few ideas and I will share them with you.

For me, variety is the answer. I dropped to my knees and thanked God I don’t write only about a specific niche. I simply cannot do that. I am too scattered and have far too many thoughts to write only about one subject. Hey, if you can do that successfully . . . more power to you. I respect that. I admire that; however, if you come to a place where you cannot think of anything good to write–might I suggest: change your attitude. Sounds simple enough, but we often get caught up in real life or soured moods which can kill our inspiration. Write about something you’ve never even considered or that you fear.

Personally, I like to change subject matter quite abruptly. I may write a philosophical article one day and a transgressive fictional story the next. I like change . . . I love change. If you’re a poet, write a poem about something you’ve never attempted–venture into the unknown. I’ve written articles about everything from politics to Zen to murder and all between–no subject out of reach. As I progress forward, I will be taking this blog into the netherworlds. My next post is a fiction story filled with sex, blood and dysfunction–highly detailed and somewhat pornographic, but I must write what I want. As I say, this is my blog. I am the owner of my blog. That means a lot to me and you should feel the same way.

Now, I have found many new blog articles I found particularly inspiring and I wanted to share. I used to write a weekly post called Bobby’s Batch, where I shared links to great posts every Sunday and I’m going to start that once more . . . next Sunday. I used to give tons of links to other bloggers and I miss that. So I must give away some blogging gifts today to get into and keep the giving spirit of Christmas going all year long. Between writing my novels, blogging and work, I have a difficult time (or little time) doing weekly reviews, but I will do my best.

Your Love’s Small Hands by poet Jé Maverick. I’m no huge fan of love poems unless they are truly great–this one is impeccably written and powerful. Jé is one of my favorite poets. Read and you’ll see why. It is beautiful.

Writing Prompt: Bone Tired by Jennifer of Writing To Survive. I’m new to Jennifer’s blog, but I’ve read dozens of her articles. She is a fantastic writer and I really loved this piece. It’s short, potent, packed with insight, vivid thought and artistic nuance–a real treat.

jazz at four a.m. by Candy of Inside Candy. This poem is so utterly great I cannot think of anything to say. You must read it for yourself. It is smoky and intoxicating.

Two Glasses by Selma of Selma in the City. I met Selma through reading comments on Why Paisley and Meleah Rebeccah’s blogs. Again, I am new to her site, but she has much to offer. This article deals with the glass half full/empty metaphor and inspired me to think about my own attitude and how changing perspective can change your attitude–the theme of this post. A great article!

Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained by Melinda Roberts of The Melindaville Blog. This is an extremely inspiring post. Melinda is a new friend, but I feel like I already know her. From the gloom of heroin addiction to being accepted into Harvard. If that doesn’t inspire, I don’t know what will. A must read.

Inside The Writing Community by Melissa Donovan of Writing Forward. A great article about writing, writers and the writing community–the loneliness of the long distance writer. Melissa has one of the few blogs about writing that I actually like. She has many great articles to enjoy!

One central concept to each of these writers is where they draw inspiration from. From other writers? From movies? I’d say from life itself. Life offers much more inspiration than any written work. And that’s the point. I am more inspired from how other writers interpret what they sense than what they actually write–if that makes any sense. I have many more articles to place in the limelight coming up soon.

Now to some other inspiring words. Around 10 years ago I came across a book called The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. This is in my opinion one of the greatest books ever written about guitar–because it’s not about learning guitar in a system. He says learn guitar by a certain method and you become a product of that method–limiting yourself. For instance, learn classical guitar the standard way, and with practice, you’ll play classical guitar as written–but you will not be free to express yourself. This is quite similar to Bruce Lee’s book The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Learn Karate at a Karate school–soon enough you’ll be a black belt who cannot fight. This is so true. Bruce took bits and pieces from all fighting methods, distilled only what worked in an actual street fight while rejecting everything else–ridding himself of what he called the classical mess. And everything Bruce said was true–just look at the explosion of MMA fighters in the UFC and such. All of these fighters use multiple arts and reject useless crap.

I have taken some of guitarist Mick Goodrick’s quotes and altered them for writing inspiration–because most bloggers will not buy a guitar book to get writing inspiration or read endless guitar magazines (like me)–so I will share a few of his gems with those of you who have no idea who Mick Goodrick is. He is a true guitar master–one of those guys nobody has heard of, but teaches many of the world’s foremost guitarists in private lessons. Not only that, from what I’ve read of him, he seems to be a Zen master of the highest order. All of these quotes are incredibly useful to any writer. Here you are:

  • Competition: If you must compete, try to keep it to yourself.
  • Control usually means slowing down.
  • No single approach seems to work all the time.
  • Remember: Writing is (basically) a communal sport.
  • Don’t neglect your roots.
  • Read into how the audience reads (whether it’s one person or 10,000).
  • To keep learning: aim at always being a beginner.
  • Are you totally responsible for what you write? Of course not.
  • If even one person reads your work, your writing is drastically altered.
  • There have been (and still are) many great writers. Read their work.
  • Students often ask me: “Should I do A or B?” Most of the time I ask them, “Why not do both?”
  • About writing tempo–the speed at which something happens in your work:
    If describing a fast paced situation, write it with a slow descriptive feel.
    If describing a slow paced situation, write it with a faster feeling tempo.
  • It is very important to find the appropriate emotional energy for whatever’s being written.
  • No matter how good you get, there’s more. Go after it, improve it, write it and give it away. Never try to be the best. Always try to be the best you can be.
  • It seems that the better you get, the more you see the importance of “fundamentals”.
  • In writing, your greatest sense of identity usually occurs when “you” are hardly there at all.
  • Don’t ever forget: when you’re writing, someone is reading–or are supposed to be. That means you.
  • Writing comes from life. Many times you’ll find that you learn more about writing from life than from writing or reading.
  • Sometimes it’s better to be aware of the intentionality rather than the specifics.
  • If you truly love what you are doing, you can handle failure and success. (In fact, I would think that’s the only way anyone could handle success).
  • It’s not how many words you know, or literary theories, or plot structure or technical ability that matters. What matters is what you do with those things.
  • Don’t try to make a study of your own individuality (that’s what a person’s whole life amounts to anyway!) Make studies of everyone else’s individuality.
  • All purpose expression: Whenever you see anything (inside yourself or outside yourself) say, “Whatever it is, it’s an absolutely perfect example of whatever it is.”
  • Everyone may not have the ability to be a great writer; but everyone does have the ability to improve, to get better. To me, that’s more important.
  • The most difficult thing about finding “your own path” is that you’re already on it (whether you like it or not)! More than likely (whether you know it or not), you’ve never left it! That’s why finding it is so difficult.
  • Individuality seems to have a lot to do with being true to yourself. Being true to yourself is not always easy. In fact, you may have to teach yourself how to do it. Finding your “own voice” is not always pleasant. When your own “voice” emerges, you may not even recognize it.

As I said, I changed up these quotes a bit to fit writing, but writing and music have much in common. Being a writer or musician are more similar than different. I’ve bought more than 100 copies of his book The Advancing Guitarist and given it to my own guitar students once they reach an advanced level. I had to share this because it’s so fantastic. These are some truly inspiring quotes. My favorites are the last two.

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