Every now and then, I promise myself I will write everyday. My work routinely involves writing so by this promise, I mean that I will write with purpose and with focus, and then, to make myself accountable in some way, I say I will blog. So I must sit, have some thoughts (harder than you think!), compose them and produce them in a place to which I can point my three faithful readers.
It is really hard to create the quiet space to do this and frankly, what is the point, because there is enough evidence that we hardly read as much as we write these days? That question looms ever-larger in my head these days as I redefine my work-life as centering around words.
Writing everyday is to my chosen professional (non-NGO) identity as a daily workout is to an athlete. Without that discipline, any work I undertake--an op-ed, a book chapter, a report--all are that much harder to start. With a daily writing routine, once I have an idea in place, things move fairly smoothly.
But even in this treadmill exercise on the blog, I find I don't always have a topic in mind. That is when the post is about writing, usually. I have a thousand posts and articles in my head and always beautifully composed and full of meaning--but virtually none of them get written. In the gap between the idea and my arrival at the opportunity--time, space, quiet, implements--to write, they have vanished. So, I write about writing.
Writing to keep a promise is like walking the treadmill on a day when you have no energy and the music does not help you find a rhythm. That is me, today, trying to catch up already on the sixth day of the year on a writing backlog.
Written. Check. Over and out.
It is really hard to create the quiet space to do this and frankly, what is the point, because there is enough evidence that we hardly read as much as we write these days? That question looms ever-larger in my head these days as I redefine my work-life as centering around words.
Writing everyday is to my chosen professional (non-NGO) identity as a daily workout is to an athlete. Without that discipline, any work I undertake--an op-ed, a book chapter, a report--all are that much harder to start. With a daily writing routine, once I have an idea in place, things move fairly smoothly.
But even in this treadmill exercise on the blog, I find I don't always have a topic in mind. That is when the post is about writing, usually. I have a thousand posts and articles in my head and always beautifully composed and full of meaning--but virtually none of them get written. In the gap between the idea and my arrival at the opportunity--time, space, quiet, implements--to write, they have vanished. So, I write about writing.
Writing to keep a promise is like walking the treadmill on a day when you have no energy and the music does not help you find a rhythm. That is me, today, trying to catch up already on the sixth day of the year on a writing backlog.
Written. Check. Over and out.
1 comment:
Have begun something similar this year, to do a blog post every day or every alternate day atleast... So far so good.. yay
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