Really, I can't stop. My friend, who actually makes good money writing about money (and whose website to make that money I created) said that the average writer usually can't write beyond a certain number of words a week, or else said person would get burned out. I get burned out if I don't write at least as much as he said he was writing. Sometimes it's just in my notebooks, and sometimes it's up on the ceiling of my bedroom when I can't sleep at night, thinking of what I can write about next. I don't ever want to rest on what I've already written, even though a lot of it has been good, I strive to do better, more, and to have more purpose.
When I got the idea to create a local Jacksonville blog from an outsider's perspective, the ideas flooded my brain. I wanted to write reviews on this or that, interview local cool people, write about differences between regions, affect change, and generally get my opinion out there.
The pastor at my church, not talking directly to me, told a story about the power and responsibility of writing. He mentioned the bloggers who just write whatever comes to their minds. Reactionaries, I suppose. I don't want this blog to be like that. If I present a problem, I want to also suggest a solution. If I criticize, it's because I want to make something better, not just because I don't like it. If I make someone mad, then that person has to think. And if I make someone agree, then that person should read a few more articles before deciding we agree on everything.
I don't normally just toss my opinions out there without some research. That said, this is not news, and I am not a real member of the press. I will use the research I find to support my ideas, and I might not even research some of my opinions at all. But it's a wonderful country that we live in, and we are all entitled to our opinions, so you can post yours on Facebook or wherever it is that you send your own ideas to die. I'm not looking for thousands of Likes or a debate. That said, I'm not always going to be right in all that I infer. Remember, I'm not from around here, so I don't know the ins and outs as well as you. A blessing and a curse, I suppose.
When this website has run its course for me, I might return to writing more fiction or I might start a blog about some other topic. When I'm truly a local, maybe I won't have as much to discover, or maybe I'll realize that I don't want everyone to know so much about what I really think. But I'll still be writing. Maybe you'll see me with my phone or notebook and think I'm texting my friends or creating a shopping list, but that won't be what I'm doing. I might be working on my novel or a poem or a song or another article for one of several websites.
