A numb butt and nothing to show for it

I don’t know why I bother surfing the Internet, chasing down the blog muse. It just depresses me.

Because every time I do (which is not very often because I really don’t care much about anything that doesn’t directly involve or affect me, me, me) I come across website after website populated by writers who are observant, opinionated, concerned, witty, and amazingly prolific. Which in turn makes me feel out of touch, uninvolved, lazy as hell, and adrift without purpose or motivation.

I’m envious because writing seems so easy for everyone else. Posts seem to pour out of their fingertips like warm butter. For me, it takes forever to come up with anything I consider even remotely worthy of hitting that “publish now” button.

This morning for instance. (Uh, ok, so it’s afternoon already. Whoops.) Yes, I’m still in my pajamas, propped up in bed with my pillows and laptop, and my butt’s numb from sitting here for so long. Have I written anything? Noooo. Have I contributed to the wealth of informed commentary out there? Noooo. But I did come across a website that inadvertently set off today’s confidence crisis. And because I’m lazy, I’ll just use descriptions lifted from its “About” page:

What is L.A. Observed? A website devoted to reporting, linkage and comment on aspects of Los Angeles that interest me. Media, culture, books and the politics of Los Angeles and its environs are my main focus, but as the editor my concentration sometimes drifts to the city's history, architecture, geography, sports and other topics.

Well who is this scatterbrain? (Reminder, his words, not mine.)
I'm an author, journalist and a native Angeleno. My background includes a long stint at the Los Angeles Times as a staff writer, an editor on the state desk and as a senior projects editor. I was hired away in 2000 to be the founding Los Angeles bureau chief of the Industry Standard magazine. I contribute regularly to Los Angeles magazine, have written two books about the history and culture of Los Angeles and am at work on another. A fuller bio and examples of stories may be found at my website, kevinroderick.com.

Besides thoughtful and informed posts on subjects that I should follow but rarely take the time to track, he has compiled an amazing set of links for anyone interested in West Coast media, journalism, the LA blog scene, authors, and more, and his posts swing off in other areas that I find interesting, like architecture.

So, thanks a lot Kevin. You helped numb my butt, and I'm no doubt a little inspired because of it.

Comments

[Daniel]

You're one-up on writer/editor Kevin Roderick already; you haven't mangled our native tongue by using the word "fuller" to describe a bio that's more complete.

[Heather]

I find you very witty and good with the type strokes. I do have to say as well that your chicken story was very amusing. I can just see my little monsters doing something very similar. Keep up the great work!

[Gerard Van der Leun]

The more you post the more you'll find you can post.

Starting can be hard, but stopping is harder once you start.

Think of it as just a five-fingered exercise.