78 Keys
These 78 keys of Chinese plastic on my Macbook are the closest I may ever feel to an aura of divulgence that I rarely experienced before. As I sit here on my bed and depress these blocks that transpose electrical signals into symbolical meanings, I realize something — something quite important. It is only when I’m alone and at my worst that I manage to reach the world with my best.
My writing is both blessing and curse.
Writer’s Block
I can’t write anything on this godforsaken Tumblr account without backtracking. I have ten drafts in the queue, with well-thought ideas within them all. But I can’t finish a single one of them. What is wrong with me?
My last resort is to write about nothing — prepare to be blown away.
OK, writer’s block isn’t exactly nothing. It’s more like a pain in the ass — even more so for a professional writer of four years. The inability to write on the spot hampers my creativity and my work.
Writer’s block only affects my personal writing, though. Give me an assignment, and I’ll give you a quality product; give me the free will to write about anything, and I’ll get back to you on that. I just can’t find a way to make the paragraphs flow..
It isn’t only with my blogging: I have been fairly quiet on Twitter, Facebook, Quora, and other social media sites. Maybe I’m turning into an anti-social freak. Maybe I need a good kick in the ass. Or maybe a week long vacation to Disneyland would do the trick.
In the end, the only thing I can do is push through the writer’s block to reach the promise land. Can anyone out there relate?
The Write Stuff
I don’t write because I want to; I write because I have to.
I love expressing my own opinions. I pretty much have an opinion about everything — from how ridiculous politics are to how fake reality television truly has become. Writing just so happens to be the most effective medium for me to do just that. I guess you can say I’ve become quite good at it.
I have been writing professionally since 2007, when I decided that writing was my calling in life. I just so happen to be incredibly fortunate that I was at an age and time where writing on the Internet could be a lucrative business opportunity. I studied Computer Science while in college, but I also took the time to study English skills just as often, if not even more, in my spare time. This is the result.
I would like to think that I write primarily for myself; however, I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that I love the attention and notoriety that writing brings me. Maybe all writers crave the attention, but I’m not sure. I do know, however, that I thrive on it. It is essentially the voice that I have created to make up for the one I never had in my past.
You see, when I was younger, I had plenty of opinions. But I was rarely the type to voice them. I guess you could say I was a quiet and lonesome individual. I was a true social outcast in every meaning of the word: I kept to myself, and I actively avoided social situations, which, in retrospect, was a huge mistake. It took me a long time to realize that I needed to change.
But change I did.
I have been writing, talking, traveling, exercising, enjoying life, and constantly bettering myself since my days at Windsor High School. I am no longer afraid to enter unique social situations, some of which could make a grown person pee their pants. I enjoy the challenge. But some of the things I have done have even shocked me. For example, I worked my ass off to lose 100+ pounds of weight in the span of a single year through 2009 and 2010. This was something I thought would never be possible. But I am never quite satisfied with what I have done, and I want to do more.
My work life has also changed significantly: from writing for some of the world’s most-read Web-based publications in their respective industries — Mashable, CMSWire, Performancing (now BloggingPro) — to creating my very own startup (more on that in a future blurb). The fact that I have been able to monetize my writing and support myself is incredible to me, and something I never take for granted. I have had the opportunity to talk to Fortune 500 CEOs, network with some of the brightest minds in the technology industry today, and share my thoughts on the tech industry with potentially hundreds of millions of readers, who I also so deeply appreciate.
I owe all of this to my writing.
In fact, it has almost gotten to the point where I do these amazing, creative, and sometimes crazy things simply because I know I will have the opportunity to write about them. I get to share my experiences with the world, knowing that maybe at least one person will be able to relate to that experience. To me, these are the greatest feelings in the world.
And that, my friends, is why I have to write — it is what I love to do and it makes me happy.
So what is this, then?
This will become the new home for all my future writing that isn’t business related, of which will be making an appearance on the newly redesigned OnlyJames.com. I have traditionally written 2,000 to 3,000 word essays, but I promise not to ramble on nearly that much on Tumblr. I promise to keep it fun, easy, and interesting. It’s Tumblr, after all!
