30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2013)
Day 1: “Cheesy”
Don’t be cheesy. You can be earnest and full of good intentions, but please don’t ever let me catch you being cheesy. You’re so much better than that. The path of unbridled cheese leads you to the precipice of a treacherous cliff overlooking a chasm of disingenuous crap. In honor of today’s “Cheesy” writing prompt, let’s call this chasm “Gouda Gorge”. I live every day in constant fear of Gouda Gorge.
I really don’t write as much as I should anymore. I love to write, but I would starve if my livelihood depended on my ability to meet a writing deadline. You could blame it on my lack of discipline and creative focus, and you would be entirely in your right to do so. There is another reason, though I don’t like to talk about it much. At the root of it all, I’m doing the best I can to fake my way through a shortage of confidence. In other words, I live every day in constant fear of the cheesiness that is Gouda Gorge.
Most of the time when I sit down to write, I end up tossing my projects aside in frustration because everything I commit to the page just comes off as so damn cheesy. I log into the admin section of my blog far more often than my posting history would reveal, but I never seem to accomplish much because I’m always second-guessing myself to the point of inarticulateness.
This February will be the month when I put all of that fear and creative timidity crap to rest. The secret to successful writing is having the confidence to sprint along the path of cheesy first attempts and embarrassing rough drafts, and having the patience, good sense, and technical know-how to kick off at just the right time, allowing you to leap across the wide expanse of Gouda Gorge.
I guess it’s okay to be cheesy for a short while — at least long enough to gain your bearings before you make that final run towards the big leap. I have 30 Minus 2 Days of Writing to figure all of that out. Wish me luck, friends.
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2013)
A painful exercise in forced inspiration brought to you by
“We Work for Cheese“
Ooooh…I want a fancy box like you made showing the link back to the originating blog contest thingy. I hate you cheesy-techno-types…with the fancy boxes and the Facebook links and all the other ones with just an initial and/or a logo.
I’m okay now. I promise. 🙂
I’ll let you in on a little secret: All I did to achieve that box effect was a simple “blockquote” tag. Depending on how you set up the formatting on your blog, I bet you’d be able to come up with your own impressive looking box.
You’re on your own with the social media links, though. I’m not really sure how to set that up on Blogger. Anyhow, thanks for reading. 🙂
Well, I wish us both luck with the writing. I do the same as you – my best intentions get sidetracked and I’m off doing stupid stuff like reading Facebook posts and getting pissed at mankind as they find the most stupid things entertaining.
I’m scared to mess with the codes and stuff on the Blogger since they changed it all up a couple years ago. I’m afraid all my posts will disappear. I really need to copy these over somehow – I have about 10 I really like. So, no boxing for me. Maybe I can just steal your code and insert into mine? Who knows. I could try. Or I could just be happy with mine the way it is.
As the French would say, “C’est fromage.” 🙂
Your observation sounds very familiar. You’re not alone. We all have these mental blocks. Although, truth be told, I’d rather have a block of cheese.
It’s nice to hear that I’m not alone. I think anybody who creates and shares suffers from the occasional bout of insecurity. I’d take a block of cheese over mental blocks and insecurity any day.
You know, that’s the exact reason why I never kept a personal journal. Always felt like it got really cheesy, really fast. That’s also why we chose a cheese-themed blog. A cheese blog is the perfect excuse for cheesy writing. In any case, I thinks you writes good KZ. Not cheesy at all. 🙂
I always thought the “cheese” thing was simply about your obsession for consuming curdled milk products. It’s interesting to hear that you had a double meaning in mind. And thanks, I appreciate the vote of confidence. 🙂
Cheesy is WAY OK for a bit… Too much serious is … well, serious!
Agreed. For serious!
You know, cheesy is underrated. So is cheese, but that’s another question entirely. 😉
In some ways, I would agree with you. I’m all about cheesy jokes and such, for example.
Personally, I don’t think you should fear Gouda Gorge. I like gorging on gouda, sometimes. Cheesy things unite!
Gouda Gorge is fun to visit on occasion, but it’s definitely not a place I’d want to stay for extended periods of time.
Good ol’ Gouda Gourge. So tasty. So treacherous.
Love the honesty. I’m right there with you sometimes. Like right now. No writing for me. Perhaps you’re picking up my slack during my time of meh-ness. Way to go Asian Power!
But hey, if you need someone to crack the literary whip, give me a call or I’m sure your significant other will crack it for me.
Keep up the good work mister.
PS… How’s that story coming along, Narnia? 🙂