Consecutive days blogging ~ 1 of 365
Handstand Push-up’s – Nothing!
Dinner with friends – 0 of 12
Words of Fiction written – 1104
Blogging everyday for a year was an epic fail in the first week because I was overthinking it.
This past weekend my daughter filled in for one of the teams in her basketball club. They faced some talented and athletic teams and wound up going 0-4 for the weekend. As we drove home Lily was upset that she didn’t play as well as she could have and wondered why she struggled in the games when she has been performing well at practice.
I try and be a supportive realist when it comes to my kids sports. I ALWAYS tell them what they did well and how proud I am about their commitment and effort. If they ask (Lily always asks) what they could do better I’m honest with them. In this case she was overthinking the game and trying too hard. She was pushing so hard to do everything perfect that she lost sight of having fun and just getting the job done.
As we discussed this on the 90 minute drive home I realized that was the exact problem I was having with blogging. I’m overthinking it way too much.
A blog is just a weblog, an online record of activity. It doesn’t have to be witty or brilliant or award winning, just regularly updated. So I asked myself, why am I trying to blog at all?
The simple answer is so that readers can get to know me and see what is influencing my thinking and my writing, and to show aspiring authors what I’m doing every day. I love the format of Dean Wesley Smith ‘s blog but I also love the idea of sharing some of the cool stuff I find while doing research. I’m not going to worry about “10 Killer headlines to grow your readership” or “5 Things every blogger must do right now” I’m just going to record stuff that’s going on.
So I’m going to retrench and start over. My first try was an epic fail, but I was working too hard.
