The blogosphere is a dangerous place for someone so easily distracted. Not only are there millions of gigabytes of reading material available, there are seemingly inexhaustible opportunities for writing. At first glance you might think this would be a treasure trove for a writer. You would be wrong.
With two books already in print, a third in preparation, and a dozen more ideas lined up to be lasered onto electronic memory, there are no shortage of words to organize into inspired sentences. But a book is a long-term project and blog articles are short and, hopefully, sweet. Therein lies the problem.
Besides my website blog, which I endear with the name Science Traveler, I contribute posts to a science policy blog, this creative writing blog, a Lincoln and Science blog that hasn’t yet gone live, Goodreads book reviews, and even Facebook. That’s a lot of writing and I’m not even counting the zombie writing sites that dwell in the shadows of the internet. Add in the more productive article writing for magazines, newsletters, Lincoln websites, and the occasional grant application and editing project, and well, there are a lot of distractions.
The good news is that I write every day. If I’m traveling without my computer I’m scribbling essays down on a pad of lined paper or thumb-typing into my notes app on the smart phone. The bad news is that the book writing has a lot of competition. Too often the competition wins.
Which reminds me…I’m off to write.
David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book on Abraham Lincoln is due out in 2017
Hot White Snow 
write write write!! 😀
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Yes, yes, yes!
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Happy writing, David!
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Thank you, Irina. I made some progress. 🙂
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Hmmm…potentially hazardous distractions. I think I prefer Baudry’s version, however. (-_^)
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Baudry’s version?
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Baudry included the source of Marat’s downfall in his painting some 70-years later during the Second Empire — appropriately entitled “Charlotte Corday.” (You can read her name in Marat’s note in David’s version.)
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Ah, that explains it (my thinking was somewhere else; see, “distractions”). Do you know where Baudry’s painting is displayed? I’ve seen the David one in Brussels and now I have an urge to see the Baudry.
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Keep that up and you’ll never finish your book. Still, I’m glad you’re blogging.
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That’s my concern, Pam. But I’m trying to focus on the book(s) first, not always successfully. Yesterday was a “day off” in the sense that I was out all day seeking culture. Today I’m making arrangements for my next science traveling.
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Your energy is amazing.
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Sometimes I wonder. I need to focus more on the one thing.
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Nice to find you on the web. We have both of your hardbacks in our library.
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I hope you like them. My newest book in the same style, on Abraham Lincoln, is due out in July 2017. My main website is http://www.davidjkent-writer.com/
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Thanks.
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