Missing Days
So, on Monday I missed blogging, and while I’ve been doing better for most of the summer, April and May were very sporadic for me. Most of the time (I’d estimate about 75%-80% of the time), I actually do have a draft in progress, but for various reasons, it just doesn’t get posted. Often times, it is time–there’s not enough time to finish it before the day is over.
However, sometimes there’s something that goes wrong with the draft. I then change my mind and I usually don’t have time to switch and write a different post, so the day usually gets missed.
Drafts that I Don’t Publish: The Zuckerberg Example
So, I actually still have this draft, but it will probably never see the light of day. I took issue with Zuckerberg’s alleged resistance to the boycotts happening against Facebook, especially in light of allegations by former staffers about the company’s lack of diversity. However, I didn’t want to be another “angry” voice on the internet. And boycotts don’t work well unless they are 1) sustained and 2) large numbers have to come together, so the boycotts aren’t going to work anyway–Facebook is too ingrained in keeping up with family and friends. So, after nearly 1200 -1500 words, I decided to just not publish this post.
Movies Reviews
I sometimes watch movies that I try to write movie reviews for as they are strong story telling narrative. The problem is, not every movie is interesting enough to spend 800-1200 words on. However, I never know that until I sit down and start writing it. Sometimes the writing goes great, but sometimes I sit down and it doesn’t flow. Sometimes it does flow and it just is too long to do justice to in a short amount of words/time. The movie review for The Dark Knight was written in 3 long bursts–so three writing sessions for one blog post.
If I’ve missed a blog post, especially on Mondays (or pro tip: if the movie review pops up on Tuesday or Wednesday), the writing either didn’t go well, (or also a pro tip: it went very well and it took longer than I anticipated to get it all down).
Time
And sometimes, time just gets a way. I’ve complained about time before, and it isn’t that I have poor time management skills, but because I’m a perfectionist, time just gets away (I could have, and probably should have, stopped this entry at movies, but because I like the power of “3,” I’m writing this 3rd topic now–and this blog entry is already 4-5 hours late). See, that previous sentence hints at what happens. I have level of quality in mind and I (mostly/most of the time) refuse to drop the level of quality to match the time required to do a good job. As such, I tend to run out of time or roar past deadlines, even when something is “good enough.”
So, like today, I almost missed posting because of time. I got up late, I had to work, and I’m only now getting a chance to write (finish) the blog that I’d intended on finishing when I got up this morning. So missing days to blog, while not fun, is an unfortunate side effect of not having enough entries already “banked” and ready to go on days where the writing doesn’t go correctly, or where it takes me longer than usual to get the words down.
Editing could be its own subheading. It generally takes me 15 minutes to edit (get images, tags, alt text, etc.) the blog entry ready to go. I try to one last pass where I look for grammatical errors in the text before I post it, but sometimes errors slip through, especially when I’m in a rush to post. So, any grammatical errors you might read are also attributable to a lack of time.
Well, that’s all I have time for today–have a good one!
Sidney
Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase HawkeMoon on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase WarLight on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase Ship of Shadows on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase Faerie Knight on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Currently Working On (7/2020):
“Project Wall” (Science Fiction Story)
Drafting: First Draft
Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
Drafting: 2nd Draft (Working Draft)
Childe Roland Graphic Novel
Up Next: Rough Draft (Story)
I, Mage (Urban Fantasy Story)
Drafting: 1st Revision
