Sometimes I Haves A Great Notion

Sometimes I lives in the country,
Sometimes I lives in town,
Sometimes I haves a great notion,
To jump in the river an' drown.

Those lines are from a song called Irene or Goodnight Irene. My Uncle John used to sing that song, accompanying himself on the guitar. Some of you might recognize the third line as the source of the title of Ken Kesey's book Sometimes a Great Notion, which was made into a movie with Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. Irene is both memorable and evocative.

Some time ago I had the notion of setting up my own blog, posting my thoughts and musings to it, and eliciting comments from my hundreds of readers. So far, friends, the hundreds of readers have failed to materialize, but I still think this was a great notion. I have posted some very nice stuff to this site, and some of you have contributed your own essays, reviews, and comments. If there is any fault to be found here, it is all mine.

I have sometimes slacked off, contributing a brief review of an audio book, or reproducing someone else's column with only minimal comment. But I'm fighting back against that tendency toward intellectual laziness.

During the past few weeks, I've been involved with a terrific contest hosted by The Washington Post. The Post started by invited all comers to a contest to choose America's Next Great Pundit. The deadline for entry was October 21st, and some 4,800 of us responded. Yes, us, for I entered the contest. The essay on pluralism and monism which I posted here on October 24 was one of the pieces I drafted as potential entries in that contest. The one I submitted was on a different topic, and was cut to meet the contest's 400-word limit. In addition, I submitted a one-hundred-word statement about myself and why I should be selected.

Ten people were selected from 4,800 entrants, and I was not among them. Five of them were eliminated in the first round, after submitting 750-word essays. The rest of us entrants were invited to comment, and to vote, upon these essays. The five winners then moved into Round Two. Voting started today, and four of them will move into Round Three once the results are in on Sunday.

But it's Round Two I want to talk about. For three days, Tuesday through Thursday of this week, each of the entrants had to blog. On Tuesday, at least one submission had to be something that might turn into a regular feature. On Wednesday, in what was called the "Beyond the Comfort Zone Challenge," they were expected to attended a meeting hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, concerned President Obama's upcoming trip to Asia, and post on that event. On Thursday, they had to respond to at least one of their readers' comments. So I got to see some samples of both good and bad blogging, and I hope I've learned some lessons.

The main lesson I've learned is that there is no substitute for good writing. And that's what I promise you'll see here at Knight's Castle.

And if you have any great notions, let me know.