iam.ollief1.com

Behind Prodrivel, you might be surprised to learn, are a set of rules that I created. I considered never publishing these rules, but after a sleepless rampage of thoughts last night where my mind wouldn’t shut-down, I decided to inform you readers of Prodrivel what this legislation is. And believe me, it really is legislation in my mind. You may think it odd that a personal space is tightly governed by a set of commands, but I feel it necessary if am to achieve my goal of this website.

When I previously wrote at Knee High To A Grasshopper, I had no rules. I had no guidelines or aim. It was just a site that I wrote whatever on. Occasionally I would happen upon something great; sometimes my mind was in just the right place and the words flowed with rhythm and melodic succulence that even I cannot believe. But this was very rare, and most of what was published was, to be perfectly blunt, crap.

So after I stopped writing at Knee High and concentrated on BlogF1 (my other home) I decided that the site should close. Removing Knee High was difficult, simply because it had sentimental value, but the words contained, although an interesting diary of myself, were utter bullshit. It is no longer available except one piece I particularly enjoyed writing. This is the very first post on Prodrivel and I copied it over when I was sorting out this place.

After about six months post-extermination though, I noticed that my writing at BlogF1 had become a little more personal. In many posts that were meant to be ‘professional’, I found myself adding in more opinion, more thought and more dodgy language. While this, I later realised, was certainly no bad thing, it did make me realise that I was obviously missing personal blogging.

But with the desire to start a new personal website came the anguishing sense of, well, crap. I didn’t want a repeat of the feelings I went through in early-2008; I couldn’t bear that guilt again. So to avoid publishing utter worthless nonsense, I created a set of rules for Prodrivel. Of course, I am not the only judge of what is and what isn’t crap on the Internet, but the decision to post or not comes from me, and I am the only judge on this. And hopefully, my list of criteria to check before I hit that magic button will ensure I can develop, improve and learn as a writer.

And this is why, fellow followers on Twitter, I have been recently describing Prodrivel as difficult. Prodrivel is meant to be hard for me. It is meant to challenge me. If it doesn’t, I will not publish. A perfect example of this (aside from publishing these rules) is something I mentioned yesterday. Although I’m on holiday, I felt the need to go into work. Given the circumstances, I absolutely had to go in.

Yesterday evening, I decided the events (that are still unfolding) will be published on this site once a conclusion has been realised; needless to say, I believe I am about to be massively challenged in my professional role. Of course, details in the post will be severely lacking, but my emotions, thoughts and feelings will not. And if it helps to explain, retro-futro-spectively speaking, this is why I was happy for yesterday’s post-work online distraction.

So enough with the twoddle, here are my rules (in no particular order because there is no particular order)…

Rule One
Do not talk about Fight Club.

Rule Two
Do not talk about Fight Club.

Rule Three
If you fight, fight with 100% of your might. If you can’t, refer to rules one and two.

Rule Four
100% honesty, 100% of the time.

Rule Five
If necessary, re-work. Document changes as per rule four.

Rule Six
If it doesn’t challenge, do not write.

Rule Seven
Passion is key. Follow the heart; the mind will catch you up.

Rule Eight
Pleasure, passion, enjoyment, satisfaction. Without these elements in place, refer to rules one and two.

Which brings me neatly to my first question on Prodrivel: Should I add any rules my list of eight…?

Correction made to rule 8: I was reading from an old version of my rules at the time. Fun was changed to passion as fun is included in enjoyment.