Gone are the days when a merchant puts a board in a window of a shop along some street in town among local markets. Advertising has grown to be an electric light driven pixel package, virtual and intangible. The window is in the hands of everyone with a login ID.

Writers are encouraged to blog to develop a following. And so I sit in front of my computer willing to obey this advice, and yet when presented with a blank page to fill mechanically I stall, staring blankly like I did in literature class when asked to write an essay about frogs. I am a spontaneous writer, I suppose, picking up my virtual pen whenever the inspiration, that elusive muse, hits me. Although, my muse is more like a ninja; it attacks rather than hits. But that’s a topic for a different blog.

So, in the face of a society in which advertising is largely intangible and blogging is the new Front Street, Today’s merchant has become the new barker wandering the virtual crowds waving an onion smothered hot dog. Great. Now I’m hungry. Ah ha! See there? It works! Perhaps this visual is despised by the sophisticated sellers of more highly esteemed wares. The point is, if you’re going to advertise anything in this age you’re going to need to learn to navigate the modern store front. It is this modern store front that challenges me.

Don’t get me wrong, I embrace the idea of doing business in my fluffy bunny slippers sporting my favorite raised-by-wolves hairstyle. Who wouldn’t? But my ninja muse doesn’t attack me on cue. How does one work the modern virtual store front on a consistent basis with an inconsistent muse? {crickets} One could argue that I am consistent in that I am consistently inconsistent. I resemble that remark. And I love slippers.

So, is my spontaneity the enemy because it hobbles me from continuous barking? Or is it a friend, granting me something to bark about, profound or otherwise? Perhaps spontaneity is my Goliath and consistency its helmet. Or, is spontaneity the source of my product and consistency my Goliath? Yes, that fits better. So what is my sling and what are my stones? This will be my new quest to free myself from the hobbles.

Thank you for listening to me bark.

Cheers