So I ran out of inspiration, because I post more or less daily, and decided to call on Lita for help since she did mention once that she pretty much never runs out of the stuff. And of course sweetheart that she is, she immediately offered to “give” me one of her future post topics but that didn’t feel right. Besides the conversation itself gave me an idea. The first thing Lita said is that the need to find something new to write about every day is exactly why she doesn’t want to be a daily blogger and I though – huh… I could write about that!
As I write this I have published 1332 posts and have a dozen more scheduled. Some of these posts are just re-posts for other blogs or tiny little announcements but still, that’s a lot of random stuff to talk about. I’m hardly the only daily blogger, some people even have multiple posts a day, but I am one of the few that is not a seasonal episode reviewer, an anime news blogger or a multi blogger site. I’m just a hobbyist that mixes reviews with essays and lists and whatever strikes my fancy like a lot of other bloggers. I just do it daily. And I’m often asked why!
It’s an excellent question. I personally don’t think that posting more often is in any way “better”. Arguably taking a few days to really flesh a post out and do proper research is likely to give you better results. The few posts that I really like are ones that took me a long time to put together and I had easier to write entries in the meantime to keep things going. Since I am neither a news or episode blogger, there is really no particular time table I have to stick to either. It’s all just arbitrary and self imposed.
O.k., now even I’m starting to wonder why I do it…
All of these reasons are of course completely personal and probably don’t apply to anything else. The main and most boring one is that I am essentially a child. I have a feeling that if I don’t have a strict posting schedule, I just won’t do it. Granted I could relax a bit and post every other day and I might end up doing that. Spontaneous poll, should I start posting every other day????
When I started blogging I basically worked out this schedule in my head that put aside a certain time for writing every day and now it’s part of my routine. My day doesn’t feel quite complete without it. For the record, the benefits I gain from my writing time are pretty much akin to what I read about meditation. It calms me down and centres me. It allows my thoughts to drift and focus on something outside of myself and my immediate circumstances which makes it easier to get perspective on my life. And it’s fun!
These are also benefits that I don’t get out of more structured and long winded projects. A posts which requires a month of research and specific points to hit and detail is very satisfying, There’s really no denying that. It is more satisfying than the bulk of the posts I write. But it doesn’t give me the same introspection and sense of calm that I get from throwing my thoughts out in the digital world.
And much like meditation, I find that the only way to really get any of those benefits is by doing it frequently and consistently. I guess that’s a bit like exercising as well. Hmm, it’s almost as if practising a thing will make you better at it. Meditating is suppose to help expand mental faculties but I’m not sure I’m seeing any of those benefits…
So basically for me, and my life style, writing daily as well as the ritual of choosing images for my words and scheduling a post, brings me a lot of collateral en intangible benefits (how many times have a written this word – take a shot but maybe a non alcoholic one…).
As for the how. One thing you should know is that I don’t sleep much. I’ve always been that way. I’ve been really blessed in that I sleep extremely well. I have never had insomnia and I don’t wake up in the night ever. I basically hit my pillow and I’m out. And I can sleep any time, anywhere. But I’m good on 5 to 6.5 hours a night. Like completely good. I’m not tired in the evenings or anything. So that gives me a lot more time in a day.
Right now I no longer have a commute to use for my writing so I block time during my day, a specific hour here and another there in which I write. And I do so regardless of whether I have something to write about or not. I scarp a lot of those posts. I will sometimes get 800 words in and just never manage to bring it together into something remotely worth publishing. Some days, I can tell right from the get go that my muse is partying in Barcelona without me and I will not get a post out today. Doesn’t matter, I still write something even if it’s nonsense.
And some days, I write a lot. My muse is back, not hung over anymore, and words are just flowing out of me. I have something specific to say and I’m excited and passionate about a topic (often one no one else cares about but thems are the breaks) so I’ll just keep on writing. I’ll get two or three posts out that day. I also have a few episode reviews which I usually write an hour or so after watching the episode, outside of my regular writing schedule. These extra posts are buffers for those days when I can’t get anything out.
Yes, some days are extremely busy and the 40 minutes in the morning, and hour in the afternoon that I managed to set aside for writing (that’s my commute normally), get whittled down to a single 15 minutes in the day. That’s ok., I still write a paragraph or two. There are some perfectly average looking posts that were written over the span of almost a week, one paragraph at the time.
Now I don’t have children to take care of which I feel is another big factor in me finding time to write in a day. And I’m fairly introverted which cuts down on my social obligations compared to a lot of people. I’m not sure most people could realistically have anything similar to my writing schedule and I’m not sure anyone would want to.Like I said, I really do this for selfish reasons that won’t necessarily apply to anyone else.
Oh, and another great trick is, when you run out of inspiration, ask Lita, She’s awesome!
How often to you post and do you have a reason for it?
