I read a post over on my eldest's blog and she said something that really got me to thinking. Yes, I know. Thinking's dangerous for me. Anyway, she said that I work a lot and don't update my blog much. I won't lie, because you know I've got that Honest Scrap award thingy on my sidebar. But I will say this: it kinda smarted. Just a little. But it was true.
I used to blog a lot too much. At one point I had seven blogs. This was counting my MySpace blog (which I hardly post on anymore), LiveJournal, InsaneJournal, Wordpress, and I had three Blogger blogs. I think I OD'd on blogging. All was well until August last year, right about the time I started this blog. I got sick with undiagnosed (at the time) Celiac disease. I didn't feel like blogging. I didn't feel like doing anything. How I got a 50k+ novel written in November is beyond me because I had to have a heating pad on my stomach while I sat at the keyboard and typed my fingers to nubs. And out of those seven blogs, this one is the only one I even attempted to keep somewhat updated. And I think NaNoWriMo is the only thing that saved it. I looked at my blog archive and I have only one post for January when I was really, really sick. Since my diagnosis in February, posting has picked up. Slowly, but surely.
Hopefully, I've found two blogs that will help me to get back to posting on a regular basis. One is The One-Minute Writer. The other is C. Beth Blog. Both of these blogs are the creation of one person, C. Beth. She posted about Blogging With Discipline, and it was something I really needed to hear read.
Now that I have deleted all my Blogger blogs but two (yes, Flying From the Inside is no more) I have two blogs that focus on the main things in my life at this time: writing and Celiac disease. So I will be implementing discipline back into my blogging by regularly updating this blog. I can't really say that about my other blog, but I can this one. And I'll use C. Beth's The One-Minute Writer as a tool to do that.
At the same time, there must be balance in my life. So I am also implementing B.W.O. It's Blogging Without Obligation. What this means to me is that I blog regularly, but I am under no obligation to blog every freakin' day. This is freedom from guilt. If I don't post for a day, I don't beat myself up about it.
tartx has opened up her post about this to public domain and given permission to take it and run with it, or walk away. So here is my take and run, in her words:
Blogging Without Obligation:
Because you shouldn’t have to look at your blog like it is a treadmill.
Because its okay to just say what you have to say. If that makes for a long post, fine. Short post, fine. Frequent post, fine. Infrequent post, fine.
Because its okay to not always be enthralled with the sound of your own typing.
Because sometimes less is more.
Because only blogging when you feel truly inspired keeps up the integrity of your blog.
Because they are probably not going to inscribe your stat, link and comment numbers on your tombstone.
Because for most of us blogging is just a hobby. A way to express yourself and connect with others. You should not have to apologize for lapses in posts. Just take a step back and enjoy life, not everything you do has to be “bloggable”.
Because if you blog without obligation you will naturally keep your blog around longer, because it won’t be a chore. Plus, just think you will be doing your part to eradicate post pollution. One post at a time. . .
Anyway, I feel better crappy now. I just remembered that I will probably lose my internet connection temporarily pretty soon due to financial issues. We'll see how long it takes for me to go into internet DT's. *sigh* Stupid recession.
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