Sometimes, I sit down at my computer with the idea that I can write my blog post for the next day, but when I sit down, I really don’t have an idea in mind. Sometimes, I sit down at my computer when really I want to sit down in front of my television and watch something completely useless while I drink a delicious cup of soothing, warm tea.
Sometimes, I think about this site and the fact that you come here to read what I write every day, and I think, “Man, that’s crazy. Who would ever imagine that you would care that much about what I sit down to write?” It seems a bit surreal. Even so, sometimes I sit down to write, and it’s just not something I want to do.
Sometimes it feels a bit more like an obligation rather than a hobby.
“Would the world end if I decided to go a couple of days without a post?” I ask myself. Probably not. The world would probably, most likely, keep on spinning on its tilted axis. So why make myself sit down to write on this site, using this keyboard of mine that is old and tired, when I really don’t feel like it?
Chris Brogan wrote a post today about the actions we undertake that are like stacking wood. I have done a lot of tedious tasks in my day. Have you ever done trenching on a forest path? Have you ever built steps moving up a bank from a creek? Have you ever picked up sticks in a yard after a giant wind? Have you ever analyzed things till your eyes cross and you start seeing double?
Sure you have.
We do things like that because we’re building something. We stack wood because we want to build a fire. We clean up hiking paths so we can build safer, better trails. We blog when we don’t feel like it sometimes because we are building something on our site. We are building something online in this new virtual world. Does every little bit help?
You know the answer to that one.
I didn’t feel like blogging tonight. Sometimes bloggers don’t feel like blogging. Sometimes tweeters don’t feel like tweeting. It’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean you’re missing something. Sometimes you don’t feel like doing that last little bit of work for the day before you collapse into watching your guilty pleasure (mine this particular evening is Biggest Loser). But you have to keep trudging ahead, even when you don’t feel like it, because you know that what you are building is worth that last little push. What you are doing, whatever it may be, is worth that last little effort.
You’re worth that last little effort, aren’t you?
Image by Marina Avila. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/donzeladef
It’s a pleasure to read your posts… even when you aren’t in the mood. 😉
Aw, thanks, Susie 🙂 I appreciate that!
Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve experienced this feeling! Mine tends to be more like, “I’ve written all of the work-y stuff I needed to do, and now I really should work on my novel or my web resume website or write a post for my blog, but I’m all written out!” I hate that feeling. I love writing of any kind, even the work-y stuff, but it’s so hard to get motivated at the end of the day. On the other hand, I’m glad to know it’s not just me. 🙂
Well, that was the point of the post 🙂 I think sometimes people expect that blogging will ALWAYS be something they want to sit down and do. I was shocked and worried the first time I was eh about it. But I am pretty sure it’s normal 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Having found myself three days behind in a daily photoblog which requires little writing, it’s not that sometimes there’s no ideas, sometimes there’s too many or you’re out chasing “that post”. It’s easy to slip to the next day, it’s easy to have writers’ block, that’s why the advice to make every post you create some kind of blogging Pulitzer candidate is terrible, it puts unreal quality expectations on people that might be scared to start.
I have huge respect for those that use different media on their blogs because that’s just one huge timesink. Any post should be respected because it’s generally the result of at least a couple of hours of effort.
It’s why bloggers should try posting a solitary photo, maybe one question, sometimes we don’t need 400 words to get a response so why bother? As bloggers we should be daring to be different not following the pre-conceived ideas of what is the correct way to blog.
Blogs are individual so why write like you’re part of the crowd?
All good points. There is a lot of pressure to make sure every post is a golden example of blogging. But you don’t really need for that to happen.What you need is to communicate. If you do that, you’ve done the job. And even that, by the way, is quite the challenge!