Riff Raff

A writer's goal is to write better than those that write faster than you and write faster than those that writer better than you. But the goal should be to always strive to get better at both, or at least, speed matters if your goal for writing is to actually make money. This past week I've been trying to get better as riffing. I've been trying to master the art of writing a few hundred word pieces that I get published in fifteen to thirty minutes in between stopping Danika from riding the laundry hamper down the stairs or getting work done for clients. The real challenge though is motoring through a short piece of movie news analysis while trying to craft something that is original, insightful, entertaining and valuable. I'm not really fully confident in my ability to do quick but worthwhile, but hoping if I stick to this strategy that gems will be uncovered.

Of course, I still find a lot of value in long form, and I hope along with my movie news bits that I'll still regale you the adventures of parenthood and get back into some political pieces too. Though to be honest, writing about the political leaders on both side of the border nowadays is energy draining. I also want to just be better at riffing on whatever comes to my mind, but also be open for those times when something more complex is necessary.

The big thing for me is realizing length has nothing to do with value. It is having the instincts of knowing when something needs to be short and when something warrants several thousand words. It is also something I still wrestle with on movie reviews that tend to lean on the long side of things. A good writer knows when it is time to riff and when it is time to take the reader on a journey. Both styles of writing can have equal standards of quality

While I have your attention, a few months back I talked about wanting to try out serialized fiction on here. This is still a goal. I just want to make sure that I have a solid balance of putting out content on here while managing my pay copy first. And also actually need to stick with my promise of having written reviews of new releases posted. Remember that?