Just Because it's OLD to You, Doesn't Mean it's not NEW to Someone Else!
I've been writing "somewhat seriously" for some 40-odd years, and sometimes it really does feel like I am just rewriting the same 10-12 stories, over and over.
I'm somewhat of a niche writer-- mostly in the areas of psychology, consciousness and self-development-- which also feels like it narrows down the field of what I'm writing about.
Branch of a yellow Yew in the sun
The reason I'm having these thoughts this morning is that I recently was sorting through my "ideas file" and noticed that more than a few notes had the same ideas sketched out.
Uh-oh. Am I out of original ideas?
But is it REALLY "Old News?"
The other week, I got into the beginnings of exploring rewrites and "repeating myself," and was helped a lot by a comment from @everittdmickey who pointed out that just because something sounded "old" and repeated to me doesn't mean it isn't new and interesting to someone else.
In that particular context, I was talking about the many, many, MANY posts we see around here on "How to successfully create content on Steemit," and whether such posts have "value" when there already are 100,000 of them out there...
Worth remembering: Not everyone reads everything, all the time.
It's not Exactly Recycling...
Now, I'm not talking about actually "recycling" old posts here... I'm just talking about dialing down any worry that just because you may have created "something similar" a few months/years back... and letting that fear get in the way of exploring similar ideas today.
Purple flowers in the garden
No, people aren't suddenly going to stop following you and run for the hills because you repeated yourself a bit. If you think about it, the reason we follow most people is because they stick to a certain style/topics that appeal to us.
Let's face it, if you have specific interests you like to write about, or a particular niche you follow, an activity you're passionate about... it's almost a given that there will be some duplication and repetition.
So why am I bringing this up?
Well, because sometimes we let the fear of repeating ourselves become a "creative block." We persuade ourselves that we're "clearly not feeling inspired" because we're looking to old material to create new content.
Don't worry about it! It's a natural part of the creative process... and most often a revisit to something old-- especially if it was well received-- ends up being an improvement on the original, because you got some new perspectives, in the meantime.
So just... Steem ON!
How about you? Do you ever feel like you are "repeating yourself?" Do you worry others might think that makes you a "song of one note," so you create less? Do you ever consider that "today's reader" might NOT be "yesterday's reader?" Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Posted 20170707 09:49 PDT
You learn something new everyday, anywhere at any moment! Even if I already know something that someone just found out I will still love to discuss it with that someone. Maybe I can even teach them more about it. And I hope people would think the same in a reverse situation, I love learning things! I won't let the idea of "recycling" deter me from sharing something I just found out if I feel it really is worth sharing.
Right! There's always something to learn. And my metric tends to be whether or not something "adds value" for the majority of people who are likely to read it. On certain topics I probably do repeat myself a bit... but all it takes is one article published in the morning, and another at night... and it will reach a different audience.
It's kinda lame that people have to repeat themselves so much, but with the way social media and promotion works nowadays, we don't have a choice. You can't pump out a brand new original story/idea/project every single day, so that's how it goes.
You seem optimistic about it. For me it's a bummer.
The "velocity of life" seems to have gotten to a point where everything moves so fast that if we even blink, we miss something. So lots of stuff gets regurgitated over and over... and in many cases we don't even notice.
I think about what I write here (and I do write a LOT of original material) and realize that I could send an article out at eight in the morning and the exact same article again at eight in the evening... and a completely different audience would see it.
Maybe I'm not as "optimistic" as I am just realistically resigned to this being "reality" as it stands right now.
It is said that you remember 10% of what you read (more when hearing is involved and even more if you both read and hear).
10% is not much. You can be fairly certain that your readers do not remember what you said a year ago.
Furthermore, since last time you covered a topic you will probably have had lots of other experiences that could deepen the topic or even expand it with another topic branch.
@ronni
Everything you say is true @ronni.
As much as anything... in worrying about whether a potential reader might be "bored" because I am repeating myself, I also have to ask myself the question whether it is me who's getting a little bored with what I feel like might be "the same thing."
Things change every day... and my perspective tomorrow will automatically be a little different from today.
If anyone ever finds it boring, they are free to get lost. Until then we live, love, and repeat as needed. Sometimes old ideas are best. They have survived!
Valid point @doctorjohn... the old ideas have stood the test of time; sometimes all they need is to be retold within the current time frame.
It's kinda like movies. How many times have we seen Batman or Superman revisited as a character on the big screen? But each time, the director and screen writers dig a little deeper and explore new ways to tell the story. The same is true for writing. As we have more time to reflect on the past, we have more insight on the topic, and therefor more to add to it the next time.
Actually, that's a really good analogy! Hadn't thought of it quite that way, but it makes total sense... in many cases, something can be re-told in a much better or "cleaner" way. Besides, "life happens" in the meantime, which allows us to add new perspectives.
True, life happens. We learn and grow from it, hopefully for the better.
I can guess your problem is you expect a ton creativity from you.
We are all humans. I don't have an idea that every my step should be very-very creative.
Please, allow to be yourself different :) , even nobody
Thanks... the more time I spend blogging here, the more I move from a style of writing "information articles" to "conversational blogging" which is more about everyday stories of life.
That first part is old practice of many many years writing for magazines and "serious" web sites... I find it less and less necessary, as time goes by.
Thanks for sharing. I believe you can sometimes rethink and improve old thoughts to bring a full picture to the subject matter. I always finish a thought or post, blog, presentation and go back to realize one or two things could have been added to possibly improve the material.
Indeed. And a rewrite after a few months with additional and new information isn't really repeating yourself.
Evolving is a process that moves on established structure slowly.
It may seems repetitive if you analyze two pieces that you made one after the other but the small changes will then sum to something totally new
Indeed... and sometimes I can go back and look at some of the things I wrote in my journals some years back... and I become really aware of how much life-- amd I have changed in the meantime.
Deep writing here :)
Thank you @jsantana... and I wasn't even trying to be deep! :-D
Lots of time we are so focused on progress, we miss out because the answer was actually going back!!
Blessings to you!!
Another good point! Sometimes what we need most lies behind, not in front. Thanks for the comment!