Ask Jamie:...

What to write about?

I have a list of topics that I’ve scribbled down, all of which I intend to get up on my soapbox about, just for your delectation. Do I fancy talking about any of them today? Nope. 

It’s not writer’s block, as that implies I’m stuck. There’s a difference between being stuck and not being in the right frame of mind to write about a certain subject. But what to do when all subjects are drawing a big fat dose of apathy?

It’s not that I’m not interested in those topics - I wouldn’t have added them to the list if I didn’t have something to say about them. They won’t be interesting to everyone, but what is? All I can do is witter on and hope that you don’t all abandon me at the same time, or that I’ve piqued enough curiosity to make you visit once in a while to see what I might be prattling on about next.

So no, it’s not about the topics, it’s more that every now and then my brain gets into ‘meh’ mode (you’ll have to picture the shrug and slight tilt of the head) and I find myself staring gormlessly at the screen.

This is where you come in. I’d like to know what it is you want me to write about. What subjects haven’t I tackled that you’d like to hear my take on? What burning questions do you have about, well, anything, that you’d like me to attempt to answer? Throw a few ideas into the comments below and who knows, one week there may be a blog post addressing the issue. If I write a post based on anybody’s suggestions the heading will begin with Ask Jamie: …, and will start with your comment and name. Don’t worry, you can leave anonymous comments too, so if you don’t want your name up in, well, not lights, but an inoffensive font, then this is the route to go.

Before we start we need to set some ground rules; don’t ask personal things as they won’t be answered, try to keep the swearing to a minimum and keep it clean, people! Inappropriate things in the comments section will be removed - I am all-seeing, all-knowing and I have a delete button.

If you don’t have any thoughts today, but something jumps into your head later, simply find this post in the archive and add another comment; it’ll get to me and be thrown into the pot.

Now, I don’t mean to imply that I know everything about everything, as if I did I’d be on a beach in the Bahamas, sipping cocktails and trying to decide how to spend my vast wealth, instead of on a rickety chair, drinking cold tea and trying to type ‘vast wealth’ without crying or laughing hysterically, but I do have opinions on many things, knowledge on a mere few and when it comes down to it I’m not above making some shit up.

Some of your questions I might be interested in and take myself off into research mode (otherwise known as Google) to find an answer. The answer may be simple, or it may be complicated and then I’ll attempt to give you my translation of it. Failing that I will allow my brain free reign to come up with something that might tickle your humour glands and hopefully bring a smile to your day (or more likely that WTF expression that I’m so used to seeing).

So, delve deep, peoples, and share with me your curiosities, your day-to-day wonderings and those questions about stuff that you’ve always wanted answers to but never known who to ask.

Ask Jamie.