Reflecting on 2008 and why I haven’t been writing

Reflecting on 2008 and why I haven’t been writing

Posted on January 1st, 2009 by Jody Lane

Nearly every morning last year I went into my office with a single intent — to write. Something. Anything. Nothing. Instead, other than the few posts made here, I have managed to play 386,427 games of spider solitaire. Sadly, I don’t win often, but I do have an impressive twelve-win run in easy mode, which is totally pathetic.

I am discouraged.

Rest assured that there is an abundance of gross incompetence, general stupidity, and blatant disregard for truth and justice in the world that I would gladly comment on. At this very moment there are dozens of diatribes dancing around in my head fighting to find a direct pipeline to my keyboard.

This is not a case of writer’s block. There are big, big, big things going on that piss me off and I, like thousands of others in the blogosphere, have opinions and judgments that I think are unique, brilliant, and deserving of being blasted throughout the universe because, well, um, I am right and you are wrong.

No, this is not writer’s block. My deserving diatribes on the big issues are not absent. My truth is out there. But unlike everyone else in the blogosphere, I am the victim of a cruel conspiracy. My rage has been stolen and broadcast as a ‘special comment’ by Keith Olbermann.

Yes! You Sir, have pinched my blog!

At first I thought it was Arianna Huffington, but she is just too nice. Don’t get me wrong, the woman is truly brilliant and has used my words to effectively skewer many an adversary through their cold, misguided, republican hearts. But then I saw her on television and noticed that her eyes don’t bulge obscenely when she gets irate, her head doesn’t turn a garish shade of purple or swell to huge proportions, and she doesn’t use 128-word sentences. Well, that just isn’t me. Although her impression of me in print is quite admirable and worthy of note, she is no Keith Olbermann.

Rachel Maddow was in the running. She captures my scathing wit and satirical nature perhaps even more than Keith. But again, I think outrage should alter your physical appearance. Olbermann is really an albino pygmy, you know. He just looks bigger and redder on TV. At the very least you should be able to spin your head 360°. That is outrage!

So here I am, once again, sitting at my computer this morning reflecting on all the big, big, big things that piss me off. In addition to the big global stuff, there is my own personal big stuff that sucks: cancer, baldness, chemo-induced menopause. What will I write?

I am overwhelmed.

Perhaps I should change my strategy. Maybe my would-be rants are too big. I could try to write about things that don’t piss me off. I could reflect on 2008 and write about the things I am grateful for. Perhaps I could find a happy balance. A look on the bright side… examine the silver lining, if you will.