We are not a muse

So over at Chez Alice's, Alice herself posted about the dearth of postings on her blog. Specifically, postings that feature writing, rather than photography. I recognize and sympathize with Alice's sense of lack since my own blog has the same dearth.

The amount of time has not changed. The interest in the world around me has not tapered off. Yet all my time at the computer no longer produces creative output. Repeatedly, my creativity is spent on a comment or three on someone's Facebook status or on someone's blog. Short bursts of opinion weigh in after writing, editing, and more editing - at someone else's place.

And it baffles me.

Where is my initiative to polish and publish something on my own dear blog (which has been with me for 8 years and 11 months today)? Why does my creativity remind me more of junk food grabbed on the run than a proper home-cooked meal eaten where it was made? And how do I reverse this?

Alice and I have challenged each other to a game of tag. When one posts a written post, then the other must get off her butt, sit down, and update her blog with writing, too. There is no time limit except that we expect to update each blog weekly.

So that has inspired this.

Yet, my question of where genuine inspiration and motivation and enthusiasm for treating my readers (and myself) to a thought, an experience, an adventure using a series of paragraphs is still unanswered.

Do Facebook status updates stifle creativity? Does the convenience of shooting off a sentence on Twitter hinder further thought?

I don't want what I tell you to be I'm going off to bed or that I've just made dinner or that I heard a good song and you can buy it too via iTunes. Like a piece of candy, that sort of thing seems perfect at the moment - for a moment. It's impulse and impulsive.

I think all social media have their place, and should complement each other rather than crowd each other out. That is a matter of priority, however, not type of media. Blogs aren't dead yet, and neither is the joy of writing. But blogs take more time, if they are to be done right. And time tends to get sacrificed when distracted by updates and tweets and anything else going on.

I think my brain (and perhaps yours) needs something far more nutritious than an update. Something that makes more than a couple of neurons fire. Something that forces me to think, edit, and think again. Something less impulsive and more compulsive.

It'll come to me.