Midweek journaling! Look at this! Truthfully, between meetings over the last day or two I’ve taken the time to investigate a new framework for my website. None of the bells and whistles. Just a minimal barrier between writing and getting something posted.
I think historically this has been my barrier. When my grandmother was still alive I made a conscious effort to use my correspondence with her as a way of keeping an account on my life. However, it always created a feeling of it being an event. If I’m going to go to the hassle of committing to words on paper, envelopes, international stamps and mailboxes then I’m not going to do it for anything less than something substantive.
I targeted a monthly frequency, but if I’m honest with myself finding a few spare hours to write and edit a few pages became something that I’d only commit to once the guilt had mounted to spill over levels. Surmounting the apathy of sitting on the couch and doing nothing. All told, I suspect the frequency was akin to quarterly than the monthly i desired.
Even then, the barrier to activation was too high. Committing to a few hours on a laptop, ideally without interruption versus a mere 10 minutes that I can type out on my phone really does reduce the hard work.
I think too the commitment to not really proof or edit any of these things. Just to use them as a stream of consciousness is useful to me. Both to reduce the overhead but as an unfiltered way to work through what’s going on in that head of mine.
As the quote goes “I apologize for the length, I would have written less if I had more time”. Editing is an important skill and it forces one to clarify their thinking, but it takes time and I’m not searching for refinement in this process.
Having worked a little on the website and optimized my workflow there was a moment today where I saw fifty posts from the last few months just listed out before me. And it was quite a thing to behold. A body of work. A record, that I, did something. No matter how small. I did something. And from humble beginnings sprouts the motivation to do more.