It’s day 12 of Blaugust and for the first time I don’t actually feel like writing.
It’s currently 10:38 p.m. as I’m starting this post, and I’m pretty fried. It’s been a long day, and I’m physically tired, but more importantly I’m mentally absolutely exhausted. “Can’t brain, have the dumbs” my wife would say.
But here I am anyway, rambling away into the keyboard, hoping this will turn out better than I expect. I decided to stick to this daily posting thing for the entire month, and I really don’t want to give that up just yet. It’s a bit silly, I know, but it’s also just gamified enough to make me care.
To be clear, I knew from the start that this cadence is thoroughly unsustainable in the long run, and not at all beneficial. Neither I nor you, my dear reader, would benefit much from a flood of half-baked thoughts and listicles I’d have to resort to to keep this up. Such quantity over quality would negate the entire point of having a blog of which I like to be at least a little proud. This is temporary, I promise.
But I’ve found it interesting and refreshing to write as regularly as I have. I’ve written every post either mostly or entirely on the day I published it, and it’s this consistency in the act of writing I really wanted out of the challenge, far more than publishing. If I walked away from it all with the plan to write ten posts in one weekend and then publish them over three months, that would be disappointing. I want to actually write frequently, and publishing will follow.
And so I persevere even when I don’t get to write until quite late in the day. I’m finding it easier and easier to get into the writing mental space, rested or tired, and that’s a good thing. Pushing a bit to kickstart a habit is a reasonable thing to do.
Is there risk that I might burn out and get the opposite of what I want? Sure, I suppose so, but I don’t feel like this has been that much of a burden so far. And besides, I’m absolutely allowed to skip day if I have to. In fact, doing so and then resuming could prove a worthwhile exercise in perseverance itself.
So please bear with me while I figure this out. I’ll do my best to make it worth your time both during and after this month. Thanks!
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