All Those Thousands of Words! A Morning Reflection...

My brain is having "the slows" this morning, so I have been sitting here, thinking about nothing of great importance.

Then I got to thinking about our contributions on a site like Steemit, along with the many other blog and article sites for writers, as well as web forums, social platforms and more.

For the Love of the Written Word

It strikes me it would be a pretty good bet that most people who are regular contributors here-- beyond just a few weeks-- like to write, to some degree. 

More than a few people here are actually "writers" for a living, from aspiring novelists to technical writers to poets and beyond. Even those who are mostly artists and photographers quickly end up turning their presentations into "photo essays."

Of course, that makes sense... unless you're making videos, writing is our way to expression.

You've Written The Bible, and War and Peace, and More!

Have you ever stopped and wondered just how much this writing you do online adds up?

Goodness knows, I've been active in various forums and on writing sites almost since the first day I got an Internet connection, in 1994. 

Offhand, I can think of at least a few dozen "message board" type communties I have belonged to-- hobbies, psychology, writing, and more-- in which I ended up being a "senior" member, with 1000+ posts, or more. And that doesn't count any "real" writing sites, which have been numerous. 

Most are gone-- Themestream, Writtenbyme, Brightideas, Squidoo, Helium; there were dozens more. Now we have Steemit-- a few people still add to the "content soup" on Medium, LinkedIn and other places.

Where am I going with all this?

Putting some rough estimates and a little math to work, the results are somewhat... enlightening, as well as "scary."

Being pretty conservative here, I easily send about a million words out into the nothingness every year! Most likely a lot more, because I haven't counted the 1000-odd listings I create on eBay, Etsy, Amazon and other sales sites every year (which involve writing descriptions) and the substantial volume of email I send. 

And I say "nothingness," because these words don't really amount to anything concrete, beyond just "writing, for writing's sake."

"So what?" I hear a few voices ask.

I Wanted to Write A Book... but Could Never Find the Time...

As I sit here, contemplating what is about to become my 250th original post/essay here on Steemit, I'm laughing to myself about the fact that I've always wanted to write books in the areas of psychology, self-development and human consciousness, but could never find the time to just sit down and do it! 

Here's the kicker: 100,000 words is by most publishing companies' standards what qualifies as "a full length manuscript" in terms of what you have on your bookshelf, something with 200-250+ pages.

Like most of my posts here on Steemit, this piece is about 500 words long... times 250 posts, equals 125,000 words. Since February 2nd.

Ironic, huh?

Seems to me (as has often been the case!) that my "excuses" are both thin and invalid... which begs the question "Do I actually want to write a book?"

How about YOU? Have you ever stopped to consider just how much you have written and sent out into the public domain in the course of your Internet "career?" Especially if you are someone who is-- and has been-- active with writing, forums and blogs for a long time? Have you ever had ambitions to write a book? Do you wrestle with the conundrum that you "write enough" to complete a book every few months... and yet, you never actually write a book Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- join the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Posted at 20170713 08:44 PDT