365

Blogoversary is a neologism the world probably doesn’t need.

But 365 straight days of posting is reason for celebration.

I started a daily blog last fall [2018] at the urging of Seth Godin, who’s been doing this for longer than anybody can remember.

His argument for doing this is not that you’ll become famous, or even that you’ll be read often by anyone. Instead, it has to do with changing how you go through life, how you write about it, and how you show up in the (online) world.

Noticing
When I started, this blog was called “Noticings.” Not the most creative name I’ve ever put on a blog, to be sure, but the important thing was the decision to ship. I was determined that this would be a different kind of project — and that had to start with not waiting for a perfect name in order to begin.

Now, it’s not really called anything, but noticing has become a deeply ingrained habit. Knowing I’ll have to write about something each day, I’ve found that I pay closer attention to life in general in order to find source material.

Writing
The key to consistent blogging was (and is) short blogging.

All my previous blogs went off the rails because they were infrequent and therefore massive. The longer between posts, the more I’d stuff into the next one.

What I didn’t appreciate enough then was how much that asked of my readers and me. I’d spend days writing these mini-books, then they’d land with a thump in people’s inboxes. I couldn’t make a habit of producing those, and no one could make a habit of reading.

Incidentally, I’ve also found that my writing is getting shorter and snappier overall. I still love my parenthesis, ellipses, and “dastardly dashes” (as my ninth-grade English teacher would say), but one thought per sentence is good discipline — and a service to the reader.

Showing up
Not a lot of people read this blog. And I’m OK with that for now.

Historically, it’s been harder for me to find my subject than to find my voice. Lo and behold, I can say something every day but haven’t stuck to just one thing for more than a day or two. I’m still searching for the edges, which in turn will define the audience.

The important thing is that this blog is an asset: something I own, and that I build on every day. It’s something I can point other people to and say (as Seth says), “Here, I made this.” Happily, some of them like it. And it’s edgy in its own way: if nothing else, it’s consistent and shows how I think and write.

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Cheers to the first year, and thanks for reading.

And yes, there will be a 366th post tomorrow.