A couple of weeks ago, this column series surpassed the 700 mark in number of entries.
The first appeared in the Sept. 16, 2010, issue of the Herald. This one is No. 702, and that honestly boggles my mind.
When I started it, I really didn’t have a vision for the series, which is maybe one of my favorite things about it. I never set up any boundaries or patterns and never tried to fit it into any sort of format.
Basically, it has been “about nothing” the whole time, which allows it to be about literally anything. As I’ve said a time or two, I sort of borrowed the idea from Jerry Seinfeld, whose popular sitcom (that premiered in 1989 and concluded in 1998) followed the same general scheme, with no particular direction or objective.
People sometimes ask where all the ideas come from that make up the content in these pieces. I typically reply that there are generally two ways it happens.
One, I’ll hear of something that grabs my interest or rattles my imagination, and I just expound on that subject until I’ve put together around 700 or 800 words about it. Of course, when you’re dealing with a series that has no basic format, then there’s no guidelines for picking a topic to expound upon.
It’s like a writing frontier waiting to be explored and I get to be the guide.
The other is, I simply make something up out of thin air. That’s when dogs or vultures talk, an odd song or poem emerges, or comical shots are taken at a person or group of people (like the enigmatic “they”).
Since I basically just enjoy writing, I find pleasure in doing it in non-fictional form or creating straight up fiction. I like working with the more serious issues, and I get a kick out of delving into topics from humorous and whimsical angles.
I also like doing a series within the series, which has led to 34 versions of “where old sayings come from,” as well as numerous looks at weird laws, strange facts and other subjects, funny or not.
Yep, it has been a journey through 700-plus installments in a boundless saga of material. Sort of a bottomless pit of writing, if you will.
I’m thankful – in a good way – that many of you fell into that pit years ago and are still trying to figure out how to escape. I don’t take lightly the fact that you could use the same few minutes you spend reading this column to accomplish something far more important or meaningful.
For the record, the 702 figure is strictly the number of entries in the “Off the Cuff” series and doesn’t include the 20-plus versions of columns produced by myself and two sarcastic, history and trivia-loving Pembroke Welsh Corgis I had the pleasure of knowing, Jamie (The Big Lug) and Gertie (The Permapup).
Anyway, I don’t know how many more entries to this series my aging brain and body will be able to fabricate, but there’s no telling.
After all, who knew it would reach 702?
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.