A Self-Aware Blog

Oct 21, 2007 by Justin Wayne

jwa

(Pssst, check the sidebar for the next episode of “The Classic Chronicles”. Make sure to right-click and use “open in new window”.)

It’s Sunday again, and time for another addition to the JW Show. I know I wasn’t always going to just update on Sunday, but since I’ve been working this past week (for free, but working) it’s been a bit harder to pass along the daily happenings. I am back, though, and thanks for sticking with me.

I was thinking this week about writing a blog about blogging. Have you ever stopped to think while you were reading these, “why doesn’t Justin just write in a journal?” Good question, Lynn, and I aim to answer it. But first…

There have been movies about making movies (one really cool one coming out in February called “Be Kind Rewind” check out the trailer here), writing books about writing books (umm… anyone?), and writing songs about writing songs (25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago – listen to the words). I wonder how many blogs have been written about blogging. Do bloggers who write about themselves have the courage to look inside and examine the reasons they decide to make their journal’s public? *Scratches chin hair*

Maybe it doesn’t take that much courage, so I’m going to try.

Ok, so one reason I’m doing this is so I can feel connected to the people I’ve left behind since we’ve moved to London. It truly has been hard, even though Jamie and I have each other and our very kind roommates, moving all this way and being so far away from everyone. There’s only a few hours during the day that the Central and Mountain time zones are “callable” (if you will) by us, due to the fact we’re six hours ahead and don’t really like waking people up to have a friendly conversation with them. It makes me feel a bit better being able to talk about what’s going on and getting the response that I do from you guys. I really do appreciate it a lot.

Also, this is a sort of a way to perform in the medium of writing. As it would not be interesting at all for you to tune in while I pushed the keys to make these sentences you’re reading right now, it’s fun to follow along with each completed work. Unlike television, you control the time in which you view my writing, and that can be an empowering thing for a viewer. Podcasts are changing video now, making the viewer more in control of when and for how long things are viewed, but there’s still moments where you can stare at any certain letter (here’s one for you -M-) but you couldn’t stare at the same frame of video and have it mean the same. Or could you now? That’s probably up for debate.

It’s also a way for me to practice my writing. I’m developing a few stories right now that will either evolve in to a book form or a screenplay, and this is a great venue for me to keep up my writing skills, vocabulary, and even my mechanical typing skills. I’ve had to retrain my right index finger to only lightly tap the “H” key as it’s still broken.

But ultimately it’s just a way for me to keep in touch with you, whoever you are, and another part of that is emailing me and either telling me what you think about the blog, the radio show, things about your own life, things you think I should address in this forum, or whatever. Here’s my email:

justin.arndt@gmail.com

I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks again for your support. I hope you enjoyed my self-indulgent rant about why I do this, and as always all the kind and loving thoughts do count.

Cheers!

Justin Wayne