When I set out to write a blog post per day in the month of March I was fully committed. The goal was two-fold: 1. Create an example for others to follow by publishing content here, on spigotdesign.com; 2. Write more often to start writing better.
Clearly, I didn’t write a post a day. Not even close. What went wrong? Here are a few thoughts on why the idea was ill-conceived from the start.
A hasty idea
The idea to write a post a day came up after reading a single blog post by John Gruber. The post got me thinking about my use of social media and the lack of attention this blog has got. Rather than make a solid plan a month or two out, I thought I could start two days later and just start writing.
Creating a solid plan, with guidelines and limits would have led to better success.
Zero to 60 problem
In February, 3 posts were written. In January there were two. December, November, and October of last year has a single post each. How easy can it be to go from that small level of production to 1000% increase? Probably not that easy.
Start smaller. 1 post per week? 2 posts per week? Build up the callous.
What about the other independent websites?
I happen to independently publish on more than one site. There’s https://cinchws.com, https://toryandtegan.com, and https://shouldhavebeenanastronaut.com. I don’t write regularly on any of them, but ignoring them felt wrong.
Include all sites in the post-per-day plan. This is a personal project after all.
Can it even be done, and if so is it worth it?
I don’t have a very competitive spirit in general. I don’t care to prove much to anyone, including myself. If this is going to be done, it needs to be drilled into my head that it’s important to do. Important to do for me.
If I really want to do this, I need to make it a THING.
I don’t have a current plan for restarting this project. But don’t be surprised if you see a few more posts coming through. If you’re really old-school, subscribe to the RSS feed and keep in touch. I have a few good ideas for those of us who believe in the power of independent publishing.