You see, I made a few resolutions at the beginning of this year, and (this is going to be shocking) I've kept all of them. One of those was to blog something every weekday. Some posts, like this one, have shown up shortly before it was the next day, although most were written the night before they were published.
Some nights were rough. I would be tired from a long day and my brain simply didn't want to cooperate. Other nights I would knock out two or three posts in one sitting.
Now we've come to the end of the year, and I've met my goal. I wonder though, should I keep it up? I've been going through the pros and cons:
Pros
- I've recorded things I wouldn't have otherwise. Conversations with the boys, funny pictures of them, my random musings, I don't think all of these would have made it onto the blog if I hadn't been writing so consistently. This year was pretty well documented.
- I've had to stretch myself, in my writing and in the things about which I've written. I mean, I don't think I would have written about Good Eats or comments if I hadn't wanted to have something go up everyday.
- I feel closer to many of you. You've answered my questions, offered advice, commiserated with me, and made me smile with your comments.
- Writing every night is hard. Once I turn the computer on it seems to steal away the rest of my evening. I want to read more books and spend less time on the computer, but the whole blogging thing gets in the way.
- Similarly, finding something interesting to write about everyday has proved a challenge, which explains the YouTube videos.
What would you do?
5 comments:
I'm not one to talk since I'm not particularly good at posting very often, but I do know that I like reading your blog on a daily basis. I knew that even if no one else updated their blogs, that I would at least have something new to read about on yours. Obviously you do what you want and think is best in the end, but that's my two cents on the topic.
Happy New Year! :)
For Christmas my mother-in-law got me a book on memoir writing and wrote on the inside cover "for the dry spells." I think weekday posting is a great goal, especially if you use it to stretch a bit. A book like that might help?
I have to admit I love seeing your posts every day but I like the way I've been trying to do it. My goal was to post every other day or 3-4 times a week. This month has dropped off due to a whole bunch of things and I need to pick up again but... It was nice to feel like I needed to post(give myself a little pressure) to post things that I might not have as much otherwise and still have wiggle room for other things.
Arnold went back to work this month so it really has been harder and it was nice to not feel like I was failing with all the stress. He's basically gone from 8am till 10pm earliest, if I'm lucky, so everything falls on my shoulders and there is no break when babies don't sleep. With him home a little for the holidays we've played and not worried about other stuff. So yea, I'm going to go back to posting more but again it's nice for a little wiggle room!
Hope this helps and happy new year!
I look forward to reading your blogs. I vote that you continue this goal. You might want to revise it so it isn’t so stressful. Five days a week is a lot to write. Having a goal to aim for may provide the motivation to write consistently, and not just leave it up to convenience. Your anecdotes and insights have made me laugh and cry. Whatever you decide, I am a loyal fan.
At one point I had a goal of doing some kind of "record-keeping" every day -- whether that was a blog entry, a scrapbook page, or a private journal entry. Sometimes I didn't want to take my random thoughts publicly to the Internet so this was a good balance for me. I should do that again.
People in the digi-scrap community are doing something I like the idea of: P365. Take a picture of something every day and write a short little blurb about it (for digiscrappers, they scrap it, but I know people who just blog it, too). Maybe it's what you ate for lunch that day, or the kids playing, or your outfit for the day -- whatever! I am always tempted to try it because it looks kind of fun and I hear how people have come to treasure the "everyday." Anyway, it's another angle you could consider.
I admire you for keeping up with your goal. You really have been consistent with it and I think it's such a treasure for your family to have the "little moments" recorded! You rock.
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