Experimenting More With My "Experiments"

Yesterday when I was suppose to be paying attention in Literature of the American Renaissance (a common occurrence not matter what the class) I started writing something that has been on my mind lately. I had every intention of posting it here--and I probably will eventually--but after rereading it a few hours later, I felt terribly depressed. It was a pretty serious subject and it sounded a bit too didactic. After rereading it for the second time, I immediately thought, "Geez, lighten up."

I'm starting to realize that I am way funnier in real-life & in person than I ever am in writing. I don't know why that is. Whenever I write something, it's like some older, more serious side takes over and I tend to sound intelligent, introspective, philosophical, and very, very boring. Granted, I can be those things in person as well, but I'd like to think I'm also entertaining at the same time in real-life. In my writing, I'm either terribly candid or horribly formal. I can't find the sweet median. My goal, when it comes to my writing, is to be like the journalistic work of David Foster Wallace. I've been reading a lot of his work lately. I'm almost finished with his collection of essays titled Consider the Lobster. The man was a phenomenal writer. He was always able to find the perfect balance between a casual, candid approach to a subject while still sounding authoritative. That's why his work is not only accessible, but also thought-provoking and real. I don't have many "heroes" when it comes to famous and/or historical figures. I tend to give the title of "hero" to people I actually know. But if I were to have a role model when it came to my writing, it would be David Foster Wallace.

Which brings me back to my original problem: How can I achieve the same balance that David Foster Wallace seemed to have perfected? ~If you're wondering why I am writing out David Foster Wallace's full name every time and not shortening it to Wallace or just DFW, it's because the guy is so awesome, he deserves to have his full name typed out every single goddamn time. Deal with it.~  The only real solution I've been able to find is just to practice; to write and write and write and keep trying to get closer to that perfect balance. Of course, I'm going to mess up quite frequently and a lot of my stuff is going to be complete shit, but how else am I going to get there? It's not going to happen instantly just because I want it to. It's like this quote I read by William Faulkner,

"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good."

And that is precisely what I intend to do. So, you dear and faithful readers of Love you. Mean it., consider yourselves warned. There's going to be more experimenting involved in my "Experiments in Writing." Hope you enjoy the ride.

Love you.
Mean it.