1:55 pm - Tues 6.03.2008
Why The Hell NOT?

Tues 6/3/08 (9:06 a.m.)

Well, it�s a start: Yesterday, I submitted some �writing samples� - three lightly-edited Diaryland entries - to Rudiusmedia.com, to be considered for one of their sites.

Basically, they host a number of writer/bloggger/video artist sites, for free, set everything up, and split the resulting ad revenue with you. All you have to do, supposedly, is provide the �content�.

If I�m to believe what it says on their website, a couple of things could happen as a result of this submission - they could just not respond (The most likely scenario, since they get hundreds of submissions a month), I could be contacted by one of their �editors�, if they see something in my writing worth working with, or they could just welcome me aboard..

(I�m a little suspicious of this �sounds too good to be true� website, and am wondering when someone, telling me what a �promising writer� I�d be with a little �help�, will start trying to lift my wallet. But if/when that happens, I�ll just say �No thanks, Asshole!�, and move on - no harm, no foul. But at this point, why not give it a whirl? What do I have to lose, besides another piece of my shaky faith in humanity?)

I�ve been second-guessing myself about the submission, thinking I should have tried to write some genuine �essays�, and not just �tweaked� a couple D-land entries (Or I should have at least cherry-picked more interesting D-land entries). But you know what? If someone actually reads what I sent, they�ll see exactly where I am right now, and make of that what they will.

Besides, if nothing happens, there�s no reason I can�t try it again, and either write that �genuine essay�, or else pick through D-land for something a little �juicier� (One of the main self-criticisms I have about my D-land work, for awhile now, is that it�s not nearly as �juicy� as it could/should be. My life, in ways, has gotten much more interesting, while my writing, paradoxically, has become more boring).

And in the meantime, there�s nothing stopping me from starting up something on Typepad or Blogspot, or both. Again, why the hell not?

Partly motivated by �researching what�s out there�, and partly to avoid �putting something out there� myself, I�ve been reading more blogs lately (Cause while I say �Why the hell not?�, there�s something very daunting about making the move from writing �just for fun� - or for whatever reason - to writing in hopes of turning a profit).

One blog I found via BoingBoing.com was Grace Undressed, a 27-year-old stripper, and extremely talented writer, giving us a clear-eyed view of her life and chosen profession .

Over a couple days, I compulsively read her complete archives. And while never much of a strip-club aficionado - I�ve always known I wasn�t going to get what I really wanted at a strip club - now that I�ve read �Grace�s� insights on stripping, and the men who frequent strip clubs, I don�t think I�ll ever go into a strip club again (I don�t think most men who go to strip clubs would want to know what strippers really think of them).

When I was finally up-to-date on �Grace�, I felt inadequate afterwards, thinking to myself, �She�s a way better writer than I am, with a more interesting life to write about...�. And people were getting her writing for free (Though at the suggestion of a couple of new readers, she�s recently put a Paypal �donation� link on her site).

But I�m not competing with �Grace� (I�m a pretty good dancer, mind you, but I have a feeling she�d kick my ass �working the pole�). Besides, as a writer, I�m not without my own �resources� - A certain slightly-above-average intelligence, a glimmer of humor, etc - and am living a life (middle-aged character actor trying to �make it� in Hollywood) that would certainly be of interest to at least some segment of the population.

I just have to have the courage to �put myself out there�, and the desire to work at becoming a better, more honest, more entertaining writer.

Cause really, why the hell not?

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