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I was thinking about the changes that have happened on my blog over the past few years. When I first started Tumblemoose, I approached topics from the standpoint of inspiring other writers. To some extent that is still my hope, but how this is accomplished has admittedly changed. The first year or so was filled with advice that was probably standard but given from my own unique perspective. I’m still fairly proud of those posts.

The last year or so has seen less “advice” posts and more “posed questions” posts. Reflecting on why this is, it occurs to me that the number of valuable advice posts is finite. At some point I believe it has all been said and my perspective is not noteworthy enough to truly be of much value. Cynical? Maybe.

Now, I know new writers are entering the world of blogging every day. A lot of these folks would benefit from helpful writing advice. I don’t deny that. I sincerely hope that as they poke around, they find some of my early posts. And Lord knows, there are certainly enough folks out there posting their writing advice perspectives every day. Now and then, I’ll look in on these and see what a particular blogger has to say. Sometimes the perspective is fresh and new. Sometimes not. Mayhap a new writer will be inspired and in that instance, the blogger has provided a valuable service.

As I indicated, my most recent posts are more along the lines of looking at an issue and posing a question. A lot of the time, Twitter and Facebook provide the fodder for these topics. I’ll see a title tweeted by a respected person and it will ignite an idea in my head. Rather than being advising in nature, these posts pose a question and ask for a response from writers. One of the things I’m liking about this is that the conversations tend to be thoughtful and advisory in and of themselves. In some ways, the comments section becomes the meat of the meal and the original post just a mere side-dish. I’m totally okay with that.

I like how fresh, new writers are often inclined to post a comment. They comment as much as the seasoned writers do and I think that’s cool. Kind of puts us all on the same level.

To answer the question posed in the title, yes I think that writing advice is helpful. I’ve just found that helpful writing advice comes in a lot of flavors, not only in a writing “how to” post.

Your perspective?

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I was thinking the other day about the importance of routine for us writing types. Most every book on writing that I’ve ever read advises would-be writers to write every day. They also advise that the best way to do this is to establish a routine. I’m admittedly too lazy at the moment to go through my 300 previous posts, but I’ll bet that on more than one occasion, I’ve advocated the same. I’m not going to go back on that advice, but it occurred to me that maybe having the importance of routine flogged into writers has a tendency to make them a bit rigid.

I think if there is one thing I’ve learned in my half-century on this planet, it’s that flexibility is the key to balance, contentment and more than likely, low blood pressure. When I was a paramedic instructor I admonished all of my students to remember that there are going to be times when you thought you would surely zig and then zag became the best route. Different is not necessarily wrong was my mantra.

I’m currently working on a project and my partner has been beating his head against the wall because a concept we thought would be perfect for the book was being a collosal pain in the ass. Sleepless nights, frustration and little forward progress on the project was the price we were paying for the rigidity we were showing when it came to using this concept. This weekend I had a revelation and gave us both permission to consider a wholesale dumping of this idea. When I ran it up the flagpole, he gave it a big ol’ salute.

We were busy trying to make the forest look pretty whilst we cursed the damned trees that kept getting in the way. Well, I think now that we have this issue resolved we are going to move the project ahead a great deal (and he’ll get to sleep again.)

The thing is, we weren’t trying to be rigid. We were not trying to stick stubborn bootheels into the mud. We just didn’t even consider the fact that there may be other options. I think that as writers, we get so mired in doing things the same way each time that we sometimes forget that we have the freedom to zig when we thought we were going to zag.

I learned a very valuable lesson here. I am adding to my writing routine a little extra time to stop, think about the direction I’m heading and then move forward in a new way if needed. I’m excited about adding this to my routine and I’m curious about what other writers do to make sure they are not bulldozing their way through their writing life.