Having fallen woefully short of a target I set myself in a previous post, it's been another year since my last appearance. Yes, I have considered closing this blog, but decided against it for one reason: I want to write a blog. I do find it difficult to keep a blog going but I'm feeling a new determination or this now. I could give you the standard excuse. "I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT, AND WHEN SOMETHING DOES HAPPEN I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO WRITE A BLOG"
But I won't, and here's why. While the second part of that "reason" could be, to an extent, viewed as somewhat valid, the first part, the part about having nothing to write about, simply isn't true. Let me break it down, dealing with the second part first. Ready? And we're off!
"...I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO WRITE A BLOG"
We all have time constraints. Jobs, deadlines, families, pets. A lot of people have kids (I don't but a lot of people do) and all of these things and many many others pull us in one direction or another. Everything we do costs us time and there's only so many hours in the day. So to find the time to sit down, think about, and write a blog can be difficult. Here's the counter argument. Other people manage it. People who have far busier lives than me. People with far more demands on their time manage to sit down and write stunning blogs on any topic you can think of. Some people even manage to do it on a daily basis!
So not having time to write is no excuse. I have the time. If I didn't, considering I've already stated that I want to write a blog, it would be up to me to find the time to do it. So, now I've deconstructed that part of the excuse, let's see if I can dismantle the first part. Here we go.
"I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT AND WHEN SOMETHING INTERESTING DOES HAPPEN..."
This is the part of the excuse that would crumble like a dried out meringue. Once I'd finally decided that yes, I do want to write a blog, the next logical question to ask myself would be well, why haven't I been writing? This took a little thought.
Initially, I'd considered citing a lack of things to write about as my reason for not writing. But this simply isn't the case. During the last 12 months I've had no shortage of experiences, problems and life developments, both good and bad, to write about. The heartbreaking loss of a beloved pet. An epic battle with depression that I almost didn't win (I'm not arrogant enough to believe that war is over yet either). A brand new relationship. Discovering a brand new passion and rekindling an old one (photography and writing respectively). So I can't truthfully say that I've had no material to write about.
Then I tried to excuse my lack of enthusiasm by convincing myself that nobody would be interested in anything I had to say. That I would be writing all this and no one would ever see it. The more I thought about that though, the more I thought so what? It's my blog. If nobody reads it is that going to negatively impact on my life? Will I lie awake at night worrying about it? The answer was really quite simple: Nope.
When you start a blog you 'pays your money and takes your chances'. Nobody giving a fig about what you write, or how you write is a risk you run. I could pander to the masses and write about what everyone's talking about or reading or watching on television. Or I could write for me. If people take an interest, great! If they don't, well so what?
A lot of people write for cathartic reasons. It makes them feel better. I think I might be one of those people. At this point I would like to mention that at the time of writing this post my life is in the best shape it's been in for years and I'm hopeful that's going to continue. But it still may be a useful thing to do. When I consider that I could've had a record of all the things that I've been through in the last year, it makes me sad to realise I haven't recorded any of it with words. It just seems like such a waste. I've always quite liked the idea of recording my experiences. Not in a teenage "dear diary" way, but rather something I can look at and remind myself of things that have happened.
Ok, so if you're still awake and reading this then your staying power is to be commended. But where are we at this point? Shall we have a quick recap? Let's do that. Just to refresh you (and me!)
I've decided that I want to write a blog. I've determined that I need to find time to do it. I've realised that I've missed so many opportunities for a good blog post, maybe even some great ones. I can't help that now. Those posts never were and never will be. I've worked out, all by myself, that writing a blog may be useful to me, as I'm the kind of person who likes to record things.
Right, ready for more? On we go.
The next potential reason (excuse) my mind latched onto was the blogging wasn't at the forefront of my mind. When something happened the idea of blogging about it didn't occur to me. It was only after the event that I thought oh, I'll write about that. By then though the details were fading and I just didn't bother. This brought me back to my original question: do I really want a blog? After more thought and introspection, I came back to the same answer. Yes. But now I had a plausible, but not excusable reason for not writing. It was something I could work on.
So how do I go about changing this? Do I constantly ask myself is there a blog in this everytime something happens? Will I remember to do that? I use mobile apps, so maybe I could do it that way? Make notes for a once-a-week-blog? I like the idea of that.
Another result of my introspection was this: I lack the discipline to sit and write a blog.
That's a hard thing to admit. Nobody likes admitting their faults but this is a big one of mine. I have a very short attention span and I'm easily distracted. While hard to admit, I believe admitting there's a problem, especially to yourself, is the first step in solving it. So step one? Done!
I mentioned I'd discovered a new passion, that passion is photography. It's still very early days - a little over three weeks by the time this post is published- but so far I'm really enjoying it. I'm enjoying the learning process and I get a thrill out of seeing my photographs slowly improve as time goes on. Still, they won't be winning any awards but I'm ok with that. I'm still only learning. I do a lot of post-process work on my photographs. I edit to try to bring out the best in a photograph, and there's nothing wrong with that. I want the photographs I've put time and effort into capturing to look as good as they can look. So I edit. I have a facebook page. Go to www.facbook.com/saysathousandwords if you'd like to see the best of my photographs to date. I'm also considering setting up a website but that's still in the planning stages.
My point is, I have to sit down and put the photographs through post-process which means I have to be disciplined and do it. Otherwise what's the point? Exactly. There wouldn't be one. So maybe I can transpose that discipline into a blog? It's worth a try right?
Let me learn to walk before I can run. I'll limit it to one a week for a couple of months (unless I have a burning desire to write about something) and see how I go with that. I've written that before, more than once in fact. So until I actually produce a weekly blog, that's just an empty statement.
I've been told my mind needs organising. I completely agree. So for the third year in a row, and with the best of intentions I'll say:
Let's give this another go!
Dave C. Bannerman.