As you can tell from my posting frequency these last months, it is not always as evident as it may seem to get around to writing an entry on my blog. I might say that I've discovered some quite effective ways not to blog(*). Being too tired, having too many other things to do, lack of inspiration or plain lack of enthousiasm may all come to mind, and apply to differing degrees at different times.
A surprising realisation struck me a few days ago. Most of the time, I actually positively want to blog. I'm sitting at my PC, trying to come up with something to write about, a pursuit at which I miserably fail. Why is that? Well, I noticed that inspiration rarely (or never) comes when I'm sitting down to write. It only works if I know in advance what I'm going to write about. Once I get started, the words normally start to flow, and I can piece together a reasonable entry. But the trick is: I have to know the subject in advance. Ideally, I already thought it through a few times in my mind, and have a reasonable idea of how it's going to turn out. This entry, for example, has been simmering for a few days.
What did go wrong then these last months, that this inspiration seems to be lacking? When I started my blog, this was something new and exciting for me, and I regularly thought about ideas and subjects. But as time goes by, routine sets in. I'm less keen on finding new ideas and pay less attention during the day. And when I do find an idea, often it appears to have already been used before. Or by the time I sit down before my PC screen in the evening, I have completely forgotten what it was.
So what should I do? First of all, I have to start paying attention to the world around me again. Life is full of nice little stories, waiting to be told. The trick is to notice them. Blogging (like journaling) can actually be a great mindfulness exercise, making you much more aware of what goes on in your life, and of your thoughts and feelings about it. And second, when these ideas come, I need to capture them before they're gone, by making a note in my Palm, ot even start to write a first draft as soon as I get a chance.
So now that I know this, all I've got to do is actually apply it. I wonder how long it will be before my next entry...
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(*) To be fair, since January I've been paying more attention again to my Dutch language blog, Squonk's Musical Box, where I essentially write about music. I could write the reviews I do over there on this blog, but I try to cover more subjects here. Maintaining two blogs in parallel obviously also accounts for some of the problem...