Breaking the bank for blog ideas

There’s a certain balance to this blog business, and when it’s out of whack, I’m left staring at a blank computer screen for hours at a time.

Like Thursday.

It’s not that I’m out of topics. That’s not it. Plenty to discuss. Off the top of my head: Pine Ridge golf, Pine Ridge sand mine, Suncoast Parkway next phase, Orange Avenue in Floral City, One for All, Inverness Villages 4, special Senate race.

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And lots of Cattle Dog chats to keep me seeking answers.

So, no, it’s not that Just Wright Citrus has reached this week’s limit.

It’s a matter of timing. Let me explain.

My long newspaper career here and in northern Michigan consisted of writing news stories. Not every day. Most days, though. At the Chronicle, especially, reporters were expected to write at least twice as many stories as our competitors.

When the Chronicle career ended and I started up Just Wright Citrus, I literally wrote lengthy Facebook posts from the Lakes Region Library until the website was operational.

I had no clue what I was doing. A daily column, I guess, that appeared online. What were my parameters? What should the length be? Does each day carry the same weight as the next?

In time, I began to figure it out. Became comfortable with certain subjects on certain days. Remember that I’m writing for myself first. If I’m not comfortable with the blog, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

That’s why I try to avoid being mundane. I have been in situations — gotta believe it happens to all writers — where I look at what I just spent the last 70 minutes writing and think, “Ye gads, that’s boring.”

It happened occasionally in the old newspaper days. I’d be writing Friday evening, some big Sunday story that explains in intricate detail the stormwater fee, when I realize that I’m even putting myself to sleep. 

I didn’t want that to happen on the blog. No one day has more significance than another.

But each day does play a role:

— Monday kicks off the week. I usually don’t pick anything too heavy for Monday, but sometimes it’s fun to roll out of the gate with a topic that just drops out of the sky. I like to have Monday’s blog in mind by Thursday afternoon. I can't go into my "weekend" without the outline of Monday's blog in my head.

— Tuesday is wonderful when I’m remembering to get the county commission email, which I forgot to request this month. When that doesn’t happen, Tuesday is often the day I run a blog that I didn’t have time or space the week before. Unless I’m banking on commission email, I try to have Tuesday’s subject figured out by Friday.

— Wednesday. I like Wednesday. The hump day blog can be anything at all. I rarely have difficulty writing Wednesday’s blog.

— Thursday can be challenging. A few weeks back, I mentioned I may take a Thursday blog off here and there. I’ve done it exactly once so far. Even after all this time, Thursday is still finding its place. Thursday’s blog is the wayward child.

— And that leaves Friday. Normally, the easiest blog of the week. Normally, light-hearted material. I’ve raised a serious subject on an occasional Friday, but my approach is the less thinking, the better.

Every so often, as is this week, I come to Thursday to write that easy Friday blog, and I stare at the screen because the tank is empty.

And that’s why we have a photo of my empty piggy bank, which I took for the express purpose of using on a day when nothing makes sense.

I have blogs in my head for each day next week. We’ll see what reality brings.

That’s my world today. Have a great weekend, friends.

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