I said this was coming after The Super, Super-Secret History of Sword-and-Sorcery. And here it is. This isn’t a summarization of everything I’ve learned since starting The Silver Key, because since I first pressed publish in September 2007 I’ve read +/- 1,000 books, changed careers, raised children, witnessed deaths and births, seen the world, grown grayer and balder, and hosted a Judas Priest tribute band in my living room. I want to talk instead about what a regular, consistent, and now I have to add—human—writing habit did for me, and could do for you. Blog post by blog post, from one to 1,000.
Having written 1,000 blog posts, if you do the same:
1. You will become a better writer. Over time your posts will read better, they will take better structure and their argumentation, stronger. It will occur slowly but inevitably and inexorably. When you work out with weights you don’t build strength in a week or a few months but over years, one workout after the next. Until suddenly you realize you’ve become a better writer. In my oldest posts my style is there and recognizable, but is abrupt, crabbed, less thoughtful, less ambitious. I am a better writer now and still making incremental improvements.
2. You will become a more rigorous thinker. Reading books is one of the best things a human being can do; writing down your thoughts and impressions as you read and publishing them is the next level. On many occasions I thought I knew what a book was about ... until I began writing about it. And realized I had more thinking to do. I’ve made revelations by committing my clouded, half-baked thoughts to the page, and edited and revised until I understood. As a clear thinker you will start to be seen as an authority, whether you want to or not.
3.You will build a repository of content that you can turn into books or articles. You can write a book this way; many have done this. Flame and Crimson was built on dozens of sword-and-sorcery book reviews gradually expanding to broader thoughts on genre. My heavy metal memoir is in production and while it’s not precisely what I do with Metal Friday, it is inspired by my memories here, of how I grew up with the greatest genre of music ever conceived for pale teenage boys.
4. Your interests will change, you will change, and so will your output. I started this blog in the midst of a 10-year D&D campaign and that was the subject of many of my early posts. I no longer play D&D and so my writing on roleplaying has fallen away. These days I am reading a lot less fiction, I find myself more interested in the world, and my psychology. So I write about those topics. I don’t know how others have the will to narrow their focus to say, roleplaying only. Focus is almost certainly better way to build an audience, but that’s not what I’m doing here. And not everyone will like the change to your blog, which leads me to point 5.
5. You will constantly struggle with what to leave out as much to put in. I’ve debated whether I should address some hot social issue of the day. I brush up to politics and religion. And usually leave it out. I am cautious with what I commit to writing, but not overly so; if you round the edges off something enough it becomes shapeless. Some things you write will offend people; I’ve had people leave nasty, insulting comments on my posts for some perceived sleight or for not sharing their same passion for their pearl of a book or movie. I would say I’m sorry but I’m mostly not; I’m a harmless 52-year-old blogger with a point of view. These days I try to lean into positivity, and saying nothing instead of going critical. But if you feel strongly about something, say it. The point is not to antagonize or troll, but if you write clearly and truthfully you will offend someone, somewhere. In fact if no one ever is aroused by something you’ve written, you’re probably playing it too cautious.
6. You will learn the secret formula: Discipline married to inspiration. Forget about trying to be divinely inspired or profound, just write, regularly. Not every post is going to move mountains. In fact you can’t predict what will land; sometimes you’ll press publish thinking you’ve just written the next “Self-Reliance” and it lands without a sound in the digital void. What’s not important is what you write but that you keep doing it. You don’t have to write every day but if pressed I would say, never let a week go by without a post. In the long run you will need to find what you are passionate about or you will lose steam. Write about what you must. It doesn’t matter if it’s been said before, once or a hundred times; you haven’t said it in your own, unique way. But at some point even your passion will wane, if only temporarily, when that occurs a weekly discipline comes back in.
7. No one else does this so you’ve got superpowers, man! Most websites or blogs go dormant; the number of people who start a blog or a Substack or a website only to have it collect dust in 2 weeks or 6 months is by far and away the norm. If you can do 1000 posts over years you are abnormal, you might even be Batman. You have accomplished something most mortals will not.
8. You will come to understand that blogs aren’t a popular medium—and that’s OK. Reading is in decline. That’s not my opinion, that is a highly studied and well-surveyed fact. Most people will go to YouTube to watch a video on Conan or the Normandy landings than seek out an article on these topics. The heyday of blogs was probably 2005-2011, which is starting to sound like a long time ago. If your goal is views, or building an audience, you should probably go the YouTube route. I’ve got a face for radio and I’m far more comfortable writing than speaking, and as noted I think writing is transformative for the individual in a way pressing record and speaking is not. If you’re of the same bent just know this medium is considerably less popular.
9. Your ego will never vanish, but your need for approval will weaken its grip. I still sometimes judge whether posts are successful based on views/shares/comments, when I know a much better metric is, is this something I’m proud of, entertained by, or find important? I do appreciate every comment I’ve ever received, every post anyone has ever shared. But ultimately extrinsic rewards are a trap; you can’t control what others think. Basing your happiness or judging your success on these metrics is folly. Write for you.
10. You will come to appreciate the act of writing for its intrinsic, human value. Writing is a beautiful, human act. It’s been with us for thousands of years for a reason. It encodes knowledge. Communication keeps us from wars. Storytelling gives our lives meaning. It has value so the AI companies crawl my blog and the entirety of the internet in ever increasing numbers. An authentic human voice is a finite resource to be mined for their parasitic, dehumanizing tech. Have at it; they’ll never be me. This is my act of rebellion, a bone middle finger encased in flesh aimed at Sam Altman. His machines are dependent on me; they crawl my blog because both he and his product are not creative; they copy. Using AI to write is not writing; you cede the craft and your very thought to a machine. AI writing has nothing to do with writing 1,000 posts, it is “content creation” suited at best for commercial objectives (SEO, advertisement, etc.). And even if you do you use AI, you should be doing your creative writing yourself, for all the reasons listed above. Embrace your unique humanity. Embrace writing for its own sake.
And a bonus observation:
11. It is worth it.
Thanks for reading.
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