An Introduction to The Unfiltered Scribe
How Ted Lasso Brought Me Blogging Clarity
(This article is cross posted from Substack.)
The third blog will be a charm, right?
This is my third blog, at least. My first came in 2009 or so. I used it as a long-form journal of sorts, which was not unlike many of my friends were doing at the time. Blogs were still relatively new then, and lots of people were using them. I did too. That blog is still out there in the internet world. Maybe I’ll tell you about it some time.
My second blog was less journal-like, and was more about exploring the idea of being a writer. I was also hosting a podcast about the region of the world I was living in at the time, and I wrote a blog article for each episode. I learned a lot about content creation during those days, particularly about how difficult it can be to be consistent on the writing front. But mostly, I struggled with understanding who I was trying to be, and what I was trying to accomplish.
Then my family and I moved, and at doing so, the podcast became somewhat defunct and the blog, which I redirected to be a subpage of the podcast webpage, didn’t seem right anymore either. I knew I still wanted to write, and I knew I still wanted others to read it, but I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to call the blog, or really how to focus.
Hitting the “how to blog” Google search wasn’t helpful either. Most of the advice I found out there said the first thing I should do is pick a niche and then write about it. I asked ChatGPT for examples of popular blogging sites. Sure enough, they all had a niche of some sort. Travel, food, cupcakes, you name it, there’s a blog out there about just about any topic you can imagine. But I had a problem.
I didn’t want to pick a topic and write about it. I just wanted to write.
I’m interested in a lot of stuff, and I didn’t want to pick one thing and focus on it.
So, Why this and why now?
Because … Ted Lasso.
That’s right. Everyone’s favorite fictional NCAA Division II football champion turned European Premier League football manager smacked me in the face with a wet noodle of insight. To be fair, none of it would have been possible if not for the talented and cocky star of his AFC Richmond, Jamie Tartt.
In season 1, episode 2 Coach Lasso asks Tartt for his opinion as to what he would rather be, a lion or a panda. Without hesitating, the brash, egotistical striker looks at Lasso with an expression which reads both confused and self-righteous as he replies,
“Coach, I’m me. Why would I want to be anything else?”
At this, Coach Lasso answers, “I’m not sure you realize how psychologically healthy that actually is.”
Why, indeed, Jamie?
This scene came to mind as I was getting ready to re-brand my blog. I want to write about how I’ve experienced life. That’s it. I don’t want to blog about my favorite baseball team, or fishing, or food, or music, or the latest trending topics, or Hollywood.
Actually, I do. But I want to blog about all of them, not just one of them.
So, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to pick the a niche. I’m going to be the niche. Why would I be anything else?
In making this decision, I came to understand I am going to have to make a concession too.
I’m going to have to write about my faith, or lack of it, or how it’s better than it was before back when I was confident I had all the right answers. As much as I’ve avoided the label “ exvangelical, “ and as much as I’ve grown tired of the words “deconstruction” or “re-construction” or whatever when it comes to my faith, I’m finding it difficult to not talk about it from time to time.
So, bear with me as I work this stuff out.
Scribe is a reference to the age-old profession of writing stuff down. Historically speaking, there’s often a religious attribution to the word. But not always, which is how I hope this plays out.
Unfiltered is how I hope to share things. If I have a superpower, it might be my willingness to expose my inner secrets to the world. I find that sharing my troubles, my failures, and my darkest moments is therapeutic for me. Working this stuff out on paper, even in a public manner, can help me be a better person. Think of it as, “here’s how I messed up and here’s what I learned.” I think it might help others feel better about themselves too.
That what I want for my readers. To leave feeling better about themself than they did before they started reading.
Since I scrapped the “experts” advice when it came to picking a niche, I’m going to stick to their advice when it comes to consistent content.
You can expect to receive some work from me once a week. I hope you find my efforts to be worth the read at the least, thought provoking from time to time, and perhaps even enlightening when I’ve really been heartfelt.
You, whoever you are, mean the world to me. I mean you’re still reading this as I approach 1000 words for this post. Might as well leave me a comment and be a part of the conversation.
Click that follow button, if you haven’t already, maybe clap a little, and let’s see what we can figure out together.
Originally published at https://www.theunfilteredscribe.com.
