When I finally decided to come back, my plan was to just chat about whatever was floating around in my head. Before that, I did a lot of opinion, sort of like a wannabe opinion columnist. I didn't want to keep going that direction when I made my grand return. Except it seems like I have. I'm still voicing my opinion on things, instead of just talking about whatever. To be sure, there's been a lot of "things" for me to talk about. But I don't want to talk about them. I just want to take what's in my head and put it out there, no matter what it's about.
I had this grand delusion of this, in its original form, becoming a bit of a side venture for me, maybe make an ad buck or two. I might have even harbored some sort of lofty goal of being a go-to guy for opinions on the goings-on in the world, you know, maybe an appearance on one of the cable TV talking head programs or a sentence or two in a publication of slightly higher prominence than what we have around here. I know that kind of stuff takes times, but I figured, what the hell, I can do it, right? Except I really can't. For starters, I still have to work while I'm getting there. No sweat, I enjoy what I do anyways. But I don't have the patience, and with me working twelve hours a day, five days a week, the patience--and time--I do have is part and parceled out for other purposes. It doesn't necessarily lend itself to having any kind of an outside venture.
So I'm trying, really trying, to keep to my idea that this would be a repository of thoughts. Am I succeeding? No. Will I succeed? Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. Only time will tell.
And that was one of the big things I took away from my chat with my colleague. A lot of times, opinion writing is simply taking what's in your head about whatever--politics, society, cats--and pulling it out, and sharing it with people. Some of our columnists around here largely write about everyday life, the ins and outs of work or parenthood or a trip to the store or whatever. Every now and then there will be a specific, defined point to what they're writing about but by and large, there is no hard, concrete point. Oh, there's a point to it somewhere; I'm not calling any of it pointless. Nothing anyone does is absolutely pointless. But the point in the usual fare I read isn't as discernible, not as open. Perhaps that's the idea. Maybe the whole point is simply to share something, an anecdote or an experience. Maybe someone reading will have an "eureka!" moment, where they read what's there and go, "Hey, I can relate". And perhaps one or two of those people sit back and open a dialogue with the author, discussing mutual, similar instances or sharing a story relevant or pertinent to whatever it was they read, drawing some sort of connection even if the author's subject and the respondent's subject are apples and oranges--they may be two different kinds of fruit, but they're both still fruit. Maybe that's the whole idea , to start a conversation about SOMETHING.
And maybe that's my idea. Or maybe not. I have no idea. Really, all I'm doing is typing strings of words together into some sort of hopefully coherent statement. It's a good start!