On Blogging

After a month’s “vacation” from posting, I thought I’d start by sharing some thoughts on blogging.

Much to my chagrin, I’m not always in a convenient place when I think of a potential blog post.  Depending on what’s available, I may have to prepare it in my head as I walk, write a note on the back of a receipt while braked before a red light, or record an abbreviated memo on my phone while the friend I’m visiting is occupied in another room.  Most of the time, however, I have or will soon have access to the Google Drive document where I keep my in-progress blog posts.  Only when they are complete do I look for an appropriate image to accompany the words and paste both into Blogger for one more proofreading before I post.

It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but this document of incomplete posts is currently 86 pages long.  

Yes, clearly, I’m not very good at finishing what I start.  On some occasions, I’ve begun multiple posts within a day, starting another when a new idea comes or when the previous becomes too unwieldy, requiring more research than I intended before I can complete it to my satisfaction.  I work on many of these posts now and then over the course of weeks or even months, hoping to bring one to completion.  Ironically, however, over half of the ones I end up posting come from sudden thoughts that morph into a full post in the space of a few hours.  

Ah, the mysteries of the writing process and the human brain!

On another blog-related note, when I read other blogs and vlogs and notice their collaboration and number of visitors,  I sometimes think “why aren’t I doing that?”  

Oh, yeah—I’m inefficient (okay, lazy) and not terribly witty, not to mention self-conscious and thus quite happy to write for a limited group of people or even just myself.  After all, this whole thing started mostly to develop my discipline as a writer and to confirm to myself that I can finish a writing project (sometimes) despite my slow progress on my book (which progress is currently non-existent).  Clearly, the part of my plan involving improved discipline died a quiet death.  Alas.