Imperfect, pressure free blogging
What a concept: imperfect, pressure free blogging.
In theory however. Ladies and Gentleman, I don’t believe that this exists! Not in my books anyway. I’m my own worst critic. Yet that doesn’t stop my procrastination tendencies. My blogging proclivity follows somewhat of a cycle. I get behind a few days. The photos to upload take work to edit (and I always have SOOOOO many!), watermark and post. I start to write and I want to ramble on. The post ends up taking an hour or two to write. And then another hour to sort out the photos and post via WordPress. I stumble, find excuses for going to bed early and not writing. I daydream about having the blog updated daily. But reality hits, and I’m all of a sudden 2 days, 7 days 15 days behind. i grow sad for not expressing that which I have so much to write about, especially with us travelling again. What do I fear, in falling behind? Am I risking failure? Of losing that sense of history, of forgetting my past? Losing the moments and lessons that have such intense meaning at the time but fade with light years, distance and memory fade? Of letting down those that do indeed care and desire to know? All the above I suppose.
So I’ve decided tonight to stop procrastinating, whinging and whining, dust off my odd notes here and there, and post out of sequence my ramblings over the last two months of un-posted content. Blasphemy! Especially for me. I’m usually pretty good at posting at least a few entries a month, if not more (aka borderline obsessive computer crazed). But come to think of it, the break has been good, and I’m ready to slowly delve into the depths of my writing. I’m here for you, if you want me. But more importantly, I’m here for me. This is my fall-back for when I grow old and senile. i have forgotten. Or fallen off the wagon, and need a boost to show me that hey, I’ve actually done good. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but good.
I’m curious, does anyone other than my Grandfather actually read this blog on a regular basis? And oh yeah, Grandpa, sorry for not writing and posting photos as often as I should / could / want to. Love you! And thank you for reading. Love you Grandpa. Kudos and peace sent out into the world for the others who happen to be stumbling through and reading this :).
More of us read this blog than you think! Congrats on resolving to get back on the job. I find the best way to make it happen is to build the routine into your daily or weekly schedule without fail. Also, look for shortcuts (software) that will make organizing, watermarking, and re-sizing your photos easier.
Writing regularly will make you a better writer, so it’s worth the effort. I have friends who gave up because it was taking them hours to write a single blog; this is a sign that you need to practice and break down the mental barriers that sabotage you. Nobody starts off being a fast writer, any more than we start off being a fast piano player.
Try this: just write whatever you want, with minimal self-criticism as you go. Start anywhere, not necessarily at the beginning. Let the thoughts just spill into the keyboard. Then stop every 3-4 paragraphs, re-read, and edit. You’ll have 500-800 polished words in no time.
All great words of wisdom Rich! What do you use for your photos (being a MAC person like me :)). Also, where do you store your photos? Do you use Flickr?
I use Aperture for photo cataloging but that’s heavier-duty software than you need. iPhoto works fine for most people. I keep a Flickr Pro account going for photos that I want to share (about 2000 at this point), but 90% of my photo library is stored on my computer with regular backups on an external drive.