Dear Dirk... A Petition ❤ ❤ ❤

[Flygirl]

Dear Dirk,

We, your fans, would like to appeal to you for a new blog post.

As you may know, most of us came to be fans because we enjoyed your acting work. Many of us had read "Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy" before discovering this group. Almost all of us have enjoyed your interviews, and since discovering DBC, we've fallen wildly for your writing.

Considerable time has passed since the last time we had the pleasure of reading one of your unrestricted, free-form works. Based on your response in the "Monday Morning Critic" interview, we have come to understand the more recent article "Dig Deep" was actually an excerpt from your potential third book... While we realize you may not want to publish another one of those short stories online, you could just write us a short note and we would all be ecstatic! (Trust me on this.)

As an aside, everyone who's already listened to it really enjoyed that podcast...

So, to summarize, we hereby formally encourage/implore you, should the mood strike, to share with us an original blog on any topic of your choice - from world affairs to this morning's breakfast.

Thank you for your attention to this most respectful, sincere and impassioned request.

Much love,
The DBC Fan Community

[Vballspieler]

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

Dear Dirk,

We, your fans, would like to appeal to you for a new blog post.

As you may know, most of us came to be fans because we enjoyed your acting work. Many of us had read "Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy" before discovering this group. Almost all of us have enjoyed your interviews, and since discovering DBC, we've fallen wildly for your writing.

Considerable time has passed since the last time we had the pleasure of reading one of your unrestricted, free-form works. Based on your response in the "Monday Morning Critic" interview, we have come to understand the more recent article "Dig Deep" was actually an excerpt from your potential third book... While we realize you may not want to publish another one of those short stories online, you could just write us a short note and we would all be ecstatic! (Trust me on this.)

As an aside, everyone who's already listened to it really enjoyed that podcast...

So, to summarize, we hereby formally encourage/implore you, should the mood strike, to share with us an original blog on any topic of your choice - from world affairs to this morning's breakfast.

Thank you for your attention to this most respectful, sincere and impassioned request.

Much love,
The DBC Fan Community

I agree whole-heartedly. We catch your Q&As as much as we can, so you know we are a great audience and would love to have a blog of your choice to enjoy.

[LittleMonkeyDog]

I couldn't agree more with all the above!
We would all love to enjoy some more of your writing should you be willing to share some with us.

[Ludlum'sDaughter14]

I'm not always the best with persuasive appeals, so here is my logical outline, based on personal experience, about the advantages of blogging.

Ahem...

The Advantages of Blogging

I was going to use bullet points as headers for each section, but by paragraph two I realized my argument mixed too many separate points together in order to achieve the whole, so I disposed of the actual outline. Maybe I'll add a summary at the end - that's something persuasive writing is supposed to include, right?

Okay, here we go, for real this time...

Writing is a solitary craft, and while that is necessary and has its benefits, sometimes it gets tiresome to feel like you're always talking to yourself in an echo chamber. Even the forms of writing that get published in formal settings, like books and articles, take a long time and a lot of editing and existential crises to finally reach their intended audience.

Blogging, on the other hand, involves a very short funnel from start to finish. It has a more personal and informal tone and is usually meant to demonstrate the personality of the author, so the merciless third-party editor is absent from the picture, leaving you as the author to decide exactly how forthright you want to be with your audience and what kind of topics you really do want talk about. And if on a particular day you feel particularly inspired to comment on an issue, a blog post is short and direct, so you can make your arguments and draw them to a neat conclusion while your brain is in the groove.

In support of the conversational tone of blogging, you can see that what I've done already in this post is very casual. I've added interjected thoughts and commented on my own formatting difficulties. This not only provides tongue-in-cheek humor, but also connects with the audience by showing them that I'm human too, I run into the same problems that they do, and I'm not afraid to poke fun at myself (and even now, in my mind I was trying to test out the term "self-deprecating" and getting it confused with "self-effacing" or "self-defacing," and accidentally ended up with the term "self-defecating"... Too much? One does have to use a little discretion in just how casual one gets with one's humor). One of my favorite parts of blogging is the ability to break the fourth wall, which is always fun to pull off.

And that leads to another point which I alluded to at the beginning: connecting more directly with the audience. When I use the word "audience," of course, I'm using the official term for the intended readers of a written work. But in blogging, it's almost more fitting to think of them as conversation partners - but that analogy isn't quite right either, because there's still a distance between the person forming the (lightly edited) thoughts and those reading them.

Either way, blogging forces a writer to think more about the people at the other end of the funnel. As soon as you hit "Publish," your words will be available for anyone to read. It can be an intimidating thought (with great power comes great responsibility), but it also means you're not slaving over a document for five years before it ever sees the light of day and connects with people.

And all of this, if you're doing it right, makes you grow as a person. Stagnation is the enemy of humanity, and the only way to combat entropy is to continually push the boundaries of your comfort zone, even just a little. The lifelong danger for the philosopher (you can see it in the writings of many who are considered the "great thinkers" of history) is to become too much of a spectator. In the process of trying to understand the human condition, it's ironically possible to become disconnected from what it means to be human. Unless a teacher, writer, or thinker is regularly being reminded what it's like to be in other peoples' shoes, specifically those of their audience, they run the risk of becoming unable to communicate meaningful truth.

As a writer and unofficial philosopher, I've run into that problem plenty of times, and I realize that I don't have the whole picture. I just own one facet of the big picture of reality, and I can only continue to understand what is real when I balance my view with the perspectives of other people who own different facets. When I blog, I can shout my perspective from the mountaintops, but that doesn't let me grow. Thinking about and occasionally interacting with the people I'm trying to speak to - thinking about what their day was like, and what parts of their life are hard or stressful, and what kind of words would lift them up to guide and strengthen them in the next part of their journey - that keeps me humble, and reminds me that I don't have all the answers (nobody does), and sometimes gets me to question and rethink what I've thought was true until I reach a deeper and more complex understanding of reality.

So... I really should end this with a "call to action" or something, but it's already meandered much longer than I planned. I guess this is an indication that I need to do some more actual blogging to provide an outlet for my mental energy (or that I do need to go back to school and get my Master's degree... [shudder]). Once I publish this, I'll be subscribed to this thread and see whatever other activity goes on, and hopefully there will be some sort of positive response from on high (most likely the Pacific Northwest). So, um... tally ho?

[Ludlum'sDaughter14]

Oh, and my apologies, Flyngirl, for this horrendously long essay on blogging. This is probably not exactly what you had in mind...

[Flygirl]

On the contrary, I LOVED it!!! Very well said. It's interesting to read the thoughts of a talented blogger (as LD14 has demonstrated), because you feel more connected to them (via the stream-of-consciousness thing).

This is true of some writers (such as Dirk) who also have that informal, *real* feel to their work, as if they are speaking to you in a conversational tone instead of trying to use big words and impress everybody. (People actually do that on social media. I think it's weird.)

Frankly, I'm not intimidated *enough* by hitting "Send" or "Publish" when I write stuff online. It's gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion! But at least I have the confidence in knowing that I don't censor and filter myself beyond recognition, so it's even more comforting when people like my ideas - that they are really appreciating something about me...

100% agree with LD14 on this one! Blogs are fun!! You also get the instant gratification of "likes" and comments on your thoughts.

Although, if you *don't* want to end up like Ann Coulter, I guess it's good to reign in the political stuff. I personally don't reign in the political stuff. But, I'm not a celebrity like Dirk or Ann Coulter.

I'm rambling. Damn it, LD14. ❤❤❤

[LittleMonkeyDog]

That makes two of us! The main reason I like a good blog is due to the 'real' feeling it has to it. And I don't like it when people only use big words for no reason whatsoever (must be my country girl upbringing ).

Oh and btw, ladies, keep up with the rambling. I kind of like it

[Flygirl]

Oh and btw, ladies, keep up with the rambling. I kind of like it

Oh, well... now you've opened the floodgates.

[LittleMonkeyDog]

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

Oh, well... now you've opened the floodgates.

Not to worry. I'm so ready

[WelshPoppy30]

Absolute yes from me
Flyngirl, pulling at the heartstrings now, and I think you got the expression just right there I haven't quite figured out how to add things like that yet, but would puss in boots face from Shrek be a little too much do you think?

[Flygirl]

Originally Posted by WelshPoppy30

Absolute yes from me
Flyngirl, pulling at the heartstrings now, and I think you got the expression just right there I haven't quite figured out how to add things like that yet, but would puss in boots face from Shrek be a little too much do you think?

OH MY GOSH, NO - that's perfect!!! I mean... purrrrrfect.

[WelshPoppy30]

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

OH MY GOSH, NO - that's perfect!!! I mean... purrrrrfect.

Haha that is purrrrfect! come on, who can resist that face?

I was just thinking as a side note, wouldn't it be great if he could write a continuation as it were on the stories he never really gets the time to start or only talked about briefly on stage at an event? Which has happened on occasion. As an example, he's said "I have a great Fred Astaire story" etc but never had the the time to talk about it.
I don't know....what do you think? My apologies if this has already been mentioned by the way

[elainesteel]

Oh I agree with everyone! A Dirk blog would be wonderful! Love his writing and love his thoughts on things always being so real. Please start to blog Dirk! Would it help if we beg? Please?!

[Wim]

I second the motion! Or is it quadruple the movement?
Anyway I vote YES!

[Flygirl]

Yessah!!! <high fives all around>

Hmmm. I don't believe it ever hurts to beg, Elaine....

Pleeeeeeaaase, Mr. Benedict???

[Vballspieler]

I have also seen many of the interviews. Some in person, quite a few on you-tube (still like the one on intergalactic promiscuity with Dwight), and have even gotten some on dvd for presents. He is a great story-teller. I wish his q&as were longer, but enjoy what I can get.

Love the memes. Stil need to read LDs blog. I will get to it in february....

[Flygirl]

Wait. Which is the one about intergalactic promiscuity?

I feel like I'd remember that one.

[Vballspieler]

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

Wait. Which is the one about intergalactic promiscuity?

I feel like I'd remember that one.

Found it. it's still hilarious.

[LittleMonkeyDog]

Originally Posted by Vballspieler

Found it. it's still hilarious.

Okay, now I need to look for this one. Getting curious

[Vballspieler]

Originally Posted by Vballspieler

Found it. it's still hilarious.

Well, I found the one referencing all that Dirk taught Dwight about interplanetary promiscuity. I still need to find the other one. All three videos I watched last night were hilarious and I find myself a bit tired this morning. Warning: when you start watching the videos, it's hard to stop.

[Flygirl]

Originally Posted by Vballspieler

Well, I found the one referencing all that Dirk taught Dwight about interplanetary promiscuity. I still need to find the other one. All three videos I watched last night were hilarious and I find myself a bit tired this morning. Warning: when you start watching the videos, it's hard to stop.

Where is it??? Give it up, woman!

[Vballspieler]

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

Where is it??? Give it up, woman!

Ok. This one is on you tube. It's the Dirk and Dwight Q&A from Salt Lake City 2013.

Dwight talks about how Dirk taught him all about interplanetary promiscuity, since he was Starbuck, you know. There's another Q&A that I'm looking for. I specifically remember "intergalactic promiscuity" because I was watching you tube videos with my 13 year-old niece.

Anyway, I watched two videos and started a third. They are so hilarious together.

I'll keep looking for the other video. Enjoy this one when you can.

[Flygirl]

Actually I went back through the threads and found that you mentioned watching this with your niece and you were going to see if it's on YouTube, Vballspieler! I think you owe us all an intergalactic sex talk. Even if you have to podcast it yourself.

I'll wait right here. <taps foot>

[Vballspieler]

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

Actually I went back through the threads and found that you mentioned watching this with your niece and you were going to see if it's on YouTube, Vballspieler! I think you owe us all an intergalactic sex talk. Even if you have to podcast it yourself.

I'll wait right here. <taps foot>

Ah, yes. That interview was quite memorable. Podcast it myself? I think not.

[Cassiebsg]

I'll read anything he writes.