I’m a list-maker. I have lists everywhere. Scribbled on scraps of papers and post-its. Written and neatly numbered in notebooks. Multiples notebooks. Typed in the notes section of my iPhone. And so on. One of the items that is permanently on my to-do list, and appears as an almost daily line item in my planner is “write on Alliezog blog.” I have “blog post ideas” scattered everywhere in various stages of thought-vomit. Lists of potential titles, topics, open letters I wish to write to the world, top 5 lists and so on. But somehow I still manage to go days, weeks and sometimes months without publishing a new post. My drafts folder is full, my notes are made, but I can’t get my sh*t together and hit publish.
Since I couldn’t decide which blog to complete today, I figured I’d take a closer look at all the excuses I’ve come up with as to why I don’t publish posts nearly as often as I want to. As a “writer” I figure I might as well make not-writing into a legitimate blog topic.
1) I have too much “work-related writing” to do and am mentally exhausted at the end of my days and unable to form comprehensive sentences.
2) I haven’t completely decided on my schtick yet. I constantly struggle with what I want my blog to be and whether I need to have more focused, category specific posts on here or whether I can ramble on about whatever strikes my mood one day, and the next day write about my favorite local hangs in Rhode Island. Who is my target audience? Who is my readership? How will I monetize this thing – and do I even want to – or do I want to keep this space all my own…? See the inner struggle alone is exhausting!
3) I tweet a lot. And post sometimes long, preachy messages on Facebook. And write all those aforementioned to-do lists. Sometimes I even type a cleverly worded text, Facebook message, or email or to a loved one. All that counts as writing right? See – I AM a writer!
4) I’m saving up all my creativity for when someone gives me a (rather large) cash-advance to write my novel…based on…the loosely crafted outline in my head, years of journals and occasionally typed and then re-typed outlines. Fingers crossed!
5) I need to travel! When I travel, I’ll suddenly open the flood gates of creative genius. I’ll totally write my first masterpiece in a sidewalk cafe in France (or England! Or in a hut in Bali!). Isn’t that how all great writers do it? I’ll be just like them!
Hopefully my overenthusiastic exclamation point laden sentences reveal the sarcasm and absurdness of my lame excuses. (I’m apparently real good at that show don’t tell thing writers are supposed to do…)
Hopefully airing it all out (and actually hitting publish on something) will get the writing process going again. If not, at least I now know I can crank out some more excuses and call it a blog post… 🙂
The Allie Zog Blog 