Last year around this time, I made it my mission—nay, my
resolution to publish a blog once a week.
If you keep up with me or my blog in any way, you know that didn’t
happen. I published a bunch in January,
then one in February, a couple in march, then I dropped off the grid for good
after I chopped my hair off in April. Part of the reason was that I didn’t feel
I had the time, but I think a big part of it was that I have been too harsh and
rigid with my writing…
For one, I gave myself a very structured timeline: once a
week. This timeline is virtually impossible to keep, as there are going to be
times when I can’t reach a computer or don’t have the time, or just forget.
Sometimes there just wasn’t anything worth writing about happening in my life,
and I couldn’t muster the creative energy to pull something out of thin air…
plus, I don’t really think that my blog is an appropriate place to publish my
fiction pieces… I might have to make a new tab for that.
Another reason I failed at my blogging goals was because I
was too worried about my writing. If you
have never taken a writing class, you might not know that most writers go
through numerous drafts and reworks before they even think about trying to get
their work published. I took this method to my blog writing, and had some of my
writerly friends “workshop” my pieces. This would be a great idea if I’m
thinking about submitting my work to magazines and writing journals. But my
blog is not that formal—nor should it be.
This is a place for friends and family to see what’s going on in my
life, for me to keep up my writing skills, and for the occasional potential
employer to see my raw skills.
There were actually numerous times I wrote something and
sent it to my writer friends (and my mom, duh) and patiently wait for their
response. The majority of the time, they said “post it” or “this is great, go
for it!” or give me a quick change and a few spelling errors. Like this
wonderful nugget:
"Yes, post it BUT you spelt
losing wrong in the first sentence. You did loosing. Grammar police. Weee oooo.
Weeee ooooo. That's the sound of the grammar police."
But occasionally they would take a long time (I don’t blame
them, they have real lives and jobs and other friends). Or they would give me
too many changes and want me to rework the whole thing, like these comments:
"I would hold off on posting this
until more happens. Right now, this is more something you would tell your
friends about in a 5 minute phone call."
And
"Right now it just feels as thought
you're jotting down the bullet points."
Admittedly, that “story” was a desperate attempt to reach my
one a week goal. My friends are great and I adore them and count on them to
help them with my writing, but sometimes it got to the point where I got there
comments back and didn’t care enough about my writing to go back and edit and
publish it. I had already finished it in my mind and had moved on to another
place.
In closing, my writing goal for 2016 will more loose
(spelled correctly, I looked it up). I want to write more often, and publish
stories and such when they deserve to be published. I want to let the blog be
for my raw writing, for my friends and family to see, and for me to continue
practicing and improving.
PS: If any occasional potential employer is reading this
entry, I promise I will revise and edit my work for you.
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