“When I replace the Great Commission with the Great Ongoing Polemic To Prove My Theology Isn’t Wrong, it’s time to pull over and check the map and see if I’m anywhere close to where I think I am.”

Michael Spencer at Internet Monk

Michael’s article is chock-full of goodies. There are enough spelling and editing errors in his posts to show that he is a busy man and writes these things hot and fast and then hits the “Publish” button before he has a chance to talk himself out  of it. It has been my experience that the faster I write, the better the result. The more I tweak and fiddle the weaker my writing becomes. And worse yet, the longer I let something sit in the draft pile before publishing. If it’s been sitting for more than a day it is either stale or it stinks. Journalists and novelists who excel are those that can crank out the text even when they don’t feel like it. Inspiration comes when the fingers are flying.

Sure, I spend a lot of time chewing on ideas before I spit them out on the screen, but that’s usually while I’m engaged in totally different activities. Read Isaac Asimov’s The Eureka Phenomenon for a great explanation of the essence of inspiration.

Non-bloggers think bloggers are lazy or perverted or both: “Where do you find time for all that blogging?” Am I supposed to feel guilty, like I’m doing something naughty? I would estimate that 90% of my articles take less than fifteen minutes to write. And while I’m engaged in active intellectual pursuits my critics are half-dead and stupid in front of a TV. Which of us is perverted and lazy?!?

And while I’m on the subject, why is it that people keep telling me I need to try to get my writing published in a magazine? Being published in a magazine is like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. On this blog, I get to publish my thoughts instantaneously and readers read it and react to it sometimes minutes after it has been published. Sure there’s a lot of junk. Sure there are plenty of stinkers. But those sink to the bottom and the good stuff keeps being read sometimes for years after it has been published. And also I never have to worry about my writing being used as a distraction during a bowel movement.

[Update: Comments closed because I don't think I can take learning any more about my readers' personal habits.]