Jack, The Deer Hunter Kills Blogs and Animals

Elmer Fudd is In the Woods- Watch Out!

Let’s get a few things straight right from the start. I shot Bambi. Yes, that cute little sucker in the photo above was shot by yours truly using a highly refined Nikon. Did it while eating breakfast and entertaining five kids. Aren’t I special. Grouchy would be a better word and far more accurate.

This is going to be another hit and run post in which I dispense some hard earned wisdom. It is probably not wise for me to try and design a blog in the same fashion as I write.

I rarely use an outline to write. It is not because I have reached Gladwell’s magic number of 10,000 although I expect to one day exceed that. It is because I see the story inside my head. The words are all assembled there waiting impatiently for me to call upon them. Thousands of them mill around in circles shouting my name- desperately trying to get my attention.

I don’t have to look, think or consider which ones I am going to choose because I just know. Writing is easy for me. I may not always like the content that I produce or be thrilled with the final product, but those words always come.

Design is Different

Design is different for me. I don’t have a final plan in mind for how I want this blog to look. I have a bunch of ideas that I am mulling over and while that works inside my head it is not as easily translated. I am not a coder or developer. I am not a designer either.

So what I really should have done is mapped this out. I should have spent some time developing a basic outline that I could follow. Instead I decided to say screw it and just jumped in head first.

I am dancing in the fire and I kind of like it.

Part of what I love about writing is creating and this definitely touches upon that. It is rewarding to work with your hands and see the fruits of your labors. It is good to learn how to do things.

My children know that sometimes I don’t want to tell them what time it is, I want to teach them how to build a clock. Knowledge is power and the more you know the more powerful you can become. Cue evil laugh.

What Comes Next

What comes next is relatively simple. I am going to spend some more time fighting with the blog trying to figure this stuff out. I am going to watch some video tutorials and read some posts/forums. I am going to tinker and tweak and exhaust myself and see what happens.

Somewhere in the midst of that or after I will probably follow up with those who have offered to help (Thank you Danny Brown and Robert Dempsey who have both offered to walk me through via Skype). By then I should have a much better idea of what I am trying to do and will be able to ask better and more insightful questions.

In the interim I am going to ask for your continued indulgence. If you have advice or suggestions you are welcome to leave it in the comments or contact me. Half the fun is in the journey or so they say.

Side note: A few people have written in and asked for more thoughts about my writing process. I’ll put together a separate post about that later, but if you are interested in some of the pieces that I pulled out you can find a section below. Those two video clips are part of the many movies inside my head.

Some of you might picture it as being similar to the docks like in On The Waterfront. You remember that movie, don’t you? I never get tired of this scene:

It is probably fair to say that sometimes I picture myself being a bit like Brando- one man taking on the system and beating it:

That stubborn man lives inside me and is a big part of why I haven’t taken up any of the offers for help…yet.

• Saved: Blogging