Image via WikipediaDo you ever ask yourself whether you’re creating anything new? If you’re simply rehashing things you’ve said before or someone else has said better? I’m having one of those days. What exactly am I contributing? Does the world need more blog posts on copywriting, business blogging, or marketing? For that matter, does the world need more blogs, more 24/7/365 news channels, more e-books, and social networking sites?
Well, let’s try to look at it positively.
Change the world one person at a time
Soulmagnet75 left a nice comment here last week —
Really nice post. I was talking with a co-worker about this very thing and saying if you do it right, even the most mundane of process improvement projects can come to life for readers (in my case, employees who need to hear that their hard work is paying off). I’m going to share your post with my team because you said it so well.
If I can hear one comment like that a month, it’s enough to keep me going. Bloggers can change the world a little bit, one person at a time, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
There’s nothing new under the sun anyway
Do you know where the phrase “nothing new under the sun” comes from? From the Bible, Old Testament, Book of Ecclesiastes.
What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. (Eccl 1, 9)
That was written around 300 B.C., so obviously if there had been bloggers back then they would have had the same concerns about information overload.
A friend of mine from Northwestern University who majored in journalism once told me there are only 4 or 5 types of news stories. The evening news is all just variations on those themes.
If that’s true, why do we keep telling the same stories over and over again?
There is nothing “new”. True. Not even in science. Not even in technology. Or in anything else. Everything “invented” had always been there. Inventors just find it out. We always discover. Feynman didn’t understand everything – he liked it that way…to always keep finding.
So also in writing, in the arts. There is a surfeit of rehashing, remolding, decanting old wines in new bottles. And it is every bit worth it. Amidst such a glut that is “created” every second, there is always one that rehashes in a way that emphasizes an idea. To inspire, to jolt us into living.
Michaelangelo had once said something to this effect:
“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”
Every article has buried within it the kernels of stranger and more wonderful ways of looking at things…waiting for a “repeater” to emphasize them.
Keep blogging, writing, rehashing, throw your heart into it!
(Pardon this all-too-sagely tone coming from a 24 year old)
I believe it all comes down to putting a fresh perspective on something that is in no way news. Expressing it better, making it easier to understand, adapting it to a certain situation, using it to solve a problem.
If we only needed something completely new and dismiss everything that isn’t, we would have stopped reading, listening and talking a long time ago
Hi Jeevanjyoti, Are you sure you’re only 24?
Those are incredibly inspirational and thought provoking thoughts. I especially like the image of decanting old wine in new bottles. A slight difference in taste can make all the difference in the world. You’ve recharged my batteries – much appreciated!
Well, maybe there’s no new stories to tell, but put them in the context of the teller and you get a fresh and unique perspective every time. It’s the WAY stories are told that continues to be new and interesting, if you ask me. (I could have sworn somebody asked me.)
Anyway, I’ll go along with Jeevanjyoti up there; it’s rare to create anything really new – it’s more of a discovery. But that doesn’t make it any less of a wonder…
Alina, Your comment, strangely enough, reminds me of one of my favorites books, “Season on the Brink”, which is about how (former) Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight handled his team throughout a mediocre season. He kept trying different ways to communicate his basic message to the players, verbally and non-verbally. At one point, he had the team practicing fly fishing on the court. Eventually he started getting through, but it took a lot of attempts. He never stopped using his imagination, like you say, to express it better and make it easier to understand.
It indeed sounds like an interesting book! I should put it on my to buy list for my next Amazon shopping spree
Brad, I have those days too sometimes. And you’ve hit the nail on the head when it comes to blogs as a way of publishing articles. From that perspective there is only so much that can be said. But when you’re writing as part of an exploration, a willingness to share, a conversation… it does change things – it keeps it new, and fresh, and interesting. And as others have mentioned it’s your take, your twist, your perspective that makes it ‘new’, and relevant.
Joanna
Robert, You definitely practice what you preach. I’m always wondering, where’s he going with this? And then when you tie it together, there’s usually an “aha moment”. Old ideas in new context = new meaning.
Alina, Here’s the Word Sell community favorite business book list. Feel free to add to it!
http://tinyurl.com/6f8ala
Joanna, That’s a good way to look at it. It’s interesting how blog conversations can take a topic in many unexpected directions. For me that’s a very attractive feature of blogging because it takes us into the realm of exploration you talk about. Takes some pressure off the writer as well!
Since Brad has broached the idea of “unexpected directions” and borrowing the context from Alina’s interest in the book Brad mentioned…yesterday I came across this article
Anybody else has come across stuff like this. Does it make sense in the first place? We had to study a lesson at school…on the importance of reading books from “Blue Ribbon Lists” based on the major premise that life is too short! Can “Blue Ribbon Blogging lists” be created…will that defeat the very purpose of blogging and the free spirit?
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http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/08/11/30-books-everyone-should-read-before-their-30th-birthday/
Jeevanjyoti, What a list of books! I’ve read most of them, and they are definitely a cut above. Whether it’s blogs or books, certain writing is bound to become more popular, more influential, and/or more profound than others. Aren’t we striving for one or more of those things when we write even a simple blog post? Everyone’s list of favorites may be different, but there will always be lists. But I don’t see a conflict there … Like Joanna is saying, the freer one’s spirit, the more likely s/he is to produce writing that moves and inspires readers.
Brad, I agree with the wise minds that have commented before me. You do offer something unique and fresh – you! You offer us information, ideas and news through the lens of your experience. Your perspective is not the same as others because you are not the same. We keep listening, reading and learning from “what is not new” because there is always a new way to look at things, a new way to reinforce our learning. I have had my fair share of “do I make a difference” moments. During the last major bout, Joanna Young rescued me with words of wisdom and encouragement. She also shared an old post of Robert Hruzek’s about being a light. I love coming here to learn, laugh and just share. You are making a difference in my life.
Thanks for the list! Will try to suggest something relevant for it!
I fully support what has been said by all the others. It’s not the content on its own, it is the way it is communicated, shared, discussed. Everyone of us is unique, and so is the way content is presented. Content without the person behind it is just content – with the person it is life packed in words.
What’s new under the sun, in addition to our own unique perspectives, are the connections we make between ideas. This is one of the reasons I’m so fascinated by what’s happening here in blog-land. You read different things than I read, certain phrases jog ideas or memories for you, while other readers have different triggers. It’s when we start connecting all those disparate dots that the exciting stuff comes along. (And, BTW, thanks for the linky-love!)
Soulmagnet75, Neat idea about blogs as idea melting pots … very good way to describe blog-land!
Ulla, Another neat idea – you can’t separate the thought from the thinker, the word from the writer. You have such a way of boiling things down to the essence. I never really looked at it that way before.
Alina, if you have a book to recommend, or if you can get friends to make recommendations, I’ll do an update and get some fresh links out there. I’ve read several of the books on the list and liked them all.
Karen, thanks for the pep talk! Someday I hope I can return the favor … not to say I want you to feel sad
Brad,
As others have said, your personality and style give a fresh perspective on “nothing new under the sun.” And just because something isn’t new doesn’t mean everyone knows it. We often take for granted that everyone knows what we know … but that’s not the case at all. You have knowledge that I don’t even if it’s not entirely new.
Brad,
Perhaps we keep telling the “same” stories over and over again because the very fact that they aren’t new, except in the details — or the treatment — allows people to relate to them better than they would to something totally new and foreign. And as Lillie and Robert have both mentioned, each individual story offers a unique perspective, which keeps it fresh and captures our interest.
In writing, it isn’t merely what we say but how we say it that draws our reader in, as Soulmagnet75’s quoted comment — and indeed your entire blog — so aptly illustrate.
Jeanne
Lillie, you and Jeanne again confirm the importance of the individual as being inseparable from the message. Blogging is a wonderful way for us non-fiction writers to inject personality into writing, since it’s so much more personal and conversational than traditional business writing. It takes a little time to adjust to that!
So true, Brad!
Each of us has our own unique voice, which is what makes blogging so intriguing. And that aspect is quite different from traditional business writing. In fact, it adds a whole new dimension to business writing — one that takes real balance to use to its fullest advantage.
Jeanne