Boring…
Lately I’ve noticed something. Maybe some of y’all out there can relate to it.
The interwebs are FREAKING BORING!
Seriously.
I suppose this partially harkens back to the phenomenon I talked about a couple posts ago, but it’s more than that. I go to writer blogs and those that are still active are basically saying the same old things, or merely rehashing their (largely inane) take on the latest bit of stupidity that has the ever-searching-for-drama-because-we-can’t-just-be-happy-and-content-with-ourselves-if-we’re-not-frothing-at-the-mouth-about-something writing community in an uproar. Then I roll to the Kindleboards, and I have to stop myself from throwing up in my mouth. Talk about repetitive and inane! I cannot believe I still go there. But I do sometimes, and I can’t resist throwing a few wise-ass comments around, partially because I really cannot believe the things some of those people say and partially because I just love throwing a grenade into a room and watching what happens. But that’s getting old too, on there.
And then I occasionally go to some of the old political blogs I used to frequent…and I fall asleep over the stupidity of fighting between two parties that are essentially the same except for their names and outward packaging. I almost can’t get pissed off when my preferred of the two get castigated anymore. Almost. But even when I manage it, that pissed-offedness is but a shadowy reflection of its former self. Of course, about a year…no just under two years…ago, I decided to stop it with the political blogs and talk shows. They just made me too mad, and worse impotently mad. And I would rather enjoy life, thank you. But still…
Then I go on Twitter, and it’s just a bunch of dumb-ass writers who want me to read their books that I have no interest in.
Sheesh.
It’s not like I don’t get a charge out of things anymore. I still love sports (Go Redskins!). I still get fired up about the latest developments in science. And when I read about true injustice (not the invented, false tripe that we see talked about in political circles. I’m talking about actual affronts to justice. Of course, many times those affronts caused by the promulgators of that tripe – normally against the very people those political douchebags claim to be trying to help. But I digress), I still get angry.
But the rest…
Some days, when I find myself surfing and looking for an excuse not to write or do something productive (“I’m as human as the next man.” – Henry Jones to Henry Jones Junior, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), I literally cannot find anything that’s remotely interesting to divert myself with.
You might think this is a great thing because then I’d just get to writing more. *snort* If only…
But seriously, has anyone else noticed the completely lack of anything that rises above the braindead, the repetitive, or the hopelessly inane out there in internet-land?
Maybe it’s just me, and I’ve learned enough that my BS meter pegs very easily. Anyone else?
*shrug*
Oh well. Whatever. Back to writing.
So I’m 9,500 words into a short story that I thought would last 5k, maybe 6k total. Now that I’m well into novelette range, I have no idea how much farther it’s going to go. And I’ve got another story that’s sitting at about 6k, and was supposed to be 6k total, but it’s nowhere near done either.
*sigh*
And then there’s Pericles. It’s been at 60k words for a few months, but I’ve not touched it while I’ve worked on other things, or moved, or had a kid, or… You get the picture. That sumbitch is going to be a good 100k or so before it’s done, looks like. Which will make it the longest story I’ve written to date.
I just need to sit down and finish the damn thing. Before NaNoWriMo.
On the bright side, those two unfinished short stories will cover my 4th quarter 2012 and 1st quarter 2013 submissions to Writers of the Future, so there will be nothing else (writing wise) to distract me from Pericles.
Now to just finish the cussed things…
Ok, really getting back to it now. I’ve almost got my 1,000 words for the day (which is the minimum acceptable…not like I’ve lived up to that this summer, but that’s neither here nor there).
Later.
Yep, some days I feel like that, particularly on Twitter, and then other days tweeps make me laugh out loud. I skim over those who constantly promote their books, always have done, self-promoters be warned – it’s a precarious game out there. The upside, as you say, is that you’re writing. Enjoy! That’s what it’s all about, really.
I’ve experienced the “Internet is boring” feeling too. I think that happens when you’ve been around the block at least once. Don’t get me wrong. This has nothing to do with age.
What I mean is, the same ole, same ole stuff only seems that way to you, now, because you’ve been through the entire cycle of questions or significant events in a writer’s experience, political cycle etc.
To grab your attention or trigger interest now, at least for me it has to be something really big or out of the norm. In writing, the last time was the Paypal issue probably because that had a direct impact on me and money unlike the sock puppet stuff. In politics, I’d say something like the Bush-Gore post election drama.
Okay, enough procrastination…. back to writing. 🙂
I lurk here from time to time – especially enjoy your douchbaggery entries.
I hear you about the boredom.
I’m about as close to a nobody in the self-publishing world as it gets – two novels limping along in sales and a book of short stories that have views but never purchased (poor little guy). It is so easy to be discouraged. Agree with your observations – though I have managed to stay interested in politics, but even there the heat is down.
Here are a couple of blogs I like. They seem to be more than the usual stuff:
http://annerallen.blogspot.com/
http://terribleminds.com/
Anyway – hang in there. If you want to trade reviews send me an email.
Thanks for the pointers, Andy. 🙂 Best of luck to you.