Seven and a half years have gone by since I first blogged for Seriously Write. The mission? Reach out to writers. Encourage them. Engage. Maybe entertain. But most of all, equip. Give writers tools to succeed. However, as you know, writers are freaks—their interests are so bizarre you never know what will win and what will be tossed onto the slush pile. I opened my history to see what received the most hits.
So, for the past seven and a half years of my column, what have you freaks been interested in?
#1: Westerns. Your craving for westerns is insatiable. What is it about the knights of the old west that never grows old? The exploration of the topic was fun.
#2: Dreams: Reading about reaching goals sparks your own fires to continue the pursuit of your dreams.
#3: Overcoming the Odds: Let’s face it, landing a publishing contract and keeping your stock up is hard. The odds are against you. And yet, many of us believe in God’s sculpted a fate for each of us. The exploration of hanging on as we meet the potential God has for us wasn’t quite as interesting as westerns, but still made the list.
#4: Fear: Writing is frightening: From rejection to success, how others perceive our innermost thoughts is pretty scary.
#5: A Better You: Writing is all well and good, but many of you freaks wanted to be even more bizarre by reading more, writing more, and just knowing more things. All the things.
#5: Tips from the Successful: Getting tips from a person who published is a pretty good idea.
#5: Math is Hard: You freaks LOVE math jokes. That’s because we’re all in this together, even if we can’t count past five.
#5: The Clever Writing Trick: You love wordplay. However, you hate being patronized. Quick wordplay thrown into a blog will fail miserably, but the labors of love that have been cried and prayed over for weeks hit success. Sometimes.
As you can see, we have one thing in common. Writing acts like a stash of chocolate hidden in a treasure chest. It draws us. Binds us. We’re brothers and sisters who lock arms in blogs, at conferences, on social media, and through the pages of our books and poetry. And even though a blog may be quietly laid to rest, taps played with respect, tears shed and laughter ringing over the moments shared and forever locked into memories, we are still here for each other, one and all. We’re freaks after all. We’ve got to stick together.
My Family Signing Out:
Sincerely Yours,
Peter Leavell
