The battle between quality and quantity is never-ending, especially when it comes to things like maintaining a blog. I used to follow all the sites, the ones with Tips and How-Tos and For Whys when it comes to blogging. I get it, I really do, but I don’t always have the time or, at least, with the other things on my plate, this isn’t my priority.
Sometimes I will put up an interesting post on LinkedIn, or say something mildly profound on Twitter, or even tell a story on Instagram but end up beating myself because it wasn’t a blog post of a certain length. Clickbait passed me by because I am a ‘proper writer’, whatever that means, and everything I write must have substance and depth. And somehow, I associated substance and depth with length.
A few years ago, for 30 days, I blogged daily. Day one was Mind Your Words. I then decided that I would make that a permanent habit. Didn’t work out. I’m an admirer and follower of Austin Kleon who has been blogging daily for two years.
He writes in A few notes about daily blogging,
“With blogging, I’m not so sure it’s about quantity as much as it’s about frequency: for me, there’s something kind of magical about posting once a day. Good things happen. Something small every day leads to something big.”
Seth Godin is also a big believer in daily blogging. In a 2015 blog post, titled Ruckusmaker Day, he writes:
“There’s a lot to admire about the common-sense advice, “If you don’t have anything worth saying, don’t say anything.
On the other hand, one reason we often find ourselves with nothing much to say is that we’ve already decided that it’s safer and easier to say nothing.
If you’ve fallen into that trap, then committing to having a point of view and scheduling a time and place to say something is almost certainly going to improve your thinking, your attitude and your trajectory.
A daily blog is one way to achieve this. Not spouting an opinion or retweeting the click of the day. Instead, outlining what you believe and explaining why.
Commit to articulating your point of view on one relevant issue, one news story, one personnel issue. Every day. Online or off, doesn’t matter. Share your taste and your perspective with someone who needs to hear it.
Speak up. Not just tomorrow, but every day.
A worthwhile habit.”
I am starting to think that I overthink it. And, I have forgotten why I started my blog ten years ago. And why I used to blog on MySpace and Blogger before that. My one early blog, Imperfect Poetry, there was a time when I posted a poem every day; it was usually the product of my daily writing exercise and was rarely that good, but it was something.
So here I am. Many years later. With all the other writing I have to do. Contemplating blogging daily. To do so, I need to stress less about length and depth and find the fun in exploring thoughts. Without worrying about SEO. And positioning. And marketing. And to find my why.
We’ll see how this goes.