So I’ve committed to posting *something* here every day in January. Well, that’s not quite true. I started posting every day on Jan 1 but didn’t necessarily put a time period on it. It became clear after a week or so that I could probably do January, but longer than that would be tedious.
Which brings us to today, where I’m itching to post something, but have nothing to say.
This is, on one hand, a good thing. It means the writing bug is biting. It means I’m enjoying it. It means this is a commitment that I’m taking seriously. It means this is a means of expression and communication that I find valuable. It also means that I know I have a couple of readers, so I’m not dissuaded by the sense I’m just shouting into the void.
But it’s also a compulsion. Sometimes the healthy thing is to stay quiet. I certainly took a couple of years to listen to people, rather than just blasting my mouth off. I also don’t want to jeopardise the project by wasting people’s time. It’s also not helped with the idea to work on my novel, because once the writing scratch is itched here, it’s not often I actually get to the novel. Which is also partly due to the fact that the novel is on my PC and I can (and am currently) writing this on my phone.
The best thing to have done was another entry in the States of Internet series. To be fair to me, though, I didn’t have a morning today due to an RSPCA house visit. They were checking we were a suitable household to adopt a cat. Which, luckily, we are. I might actually visit the cat tomorrow, or I might have a lie in. We’ll see.
Which explains why today it’s a quick, self-reflexive post fired off while Nick Cave videos play on the TV. Hopefully it’s been somewhat distracting anyway. Back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and another day.
jamesdavidward.com 
One reply on “Addiction/habit/commitment”
I face a similar conflict. I have the platform and feel it ought to be more than a site gathering dust (it works for Philip Pullman but not for me), but every post is a creation a step away from any WIP. Somewhere there’s a balance, but I haven’t found it. There are posts I’d like to do but continuing manuscripts and finishing them is more important. Perhaps the time to post is after meeting a daily word count. Word count, cup of coffee/tea, rally, blog post? I’m enjoying reading your posts very much but sense I’d enjoy the novel more.
The big man’s advice (Neil Gaiman) is to work on writing and build audience etc through blogging and such after, when there’s a finished product to sell. But maybe blog posting is micro-creating and some days that’s all one has energy for. Then again, without a schedule or a habit, sporadic posting falls by the proverbial.
Which lyrical waxing ends with my saying, thanks for the content. Good luck for the novel writing. Let me know if you work out a good way of keeping content generation going and smashing out 400+ words a day on a WIP. I’d be thrilled to know the secret!
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