I have a habit where I make a bunch of promises that, in the moment, seem perfectly doable.
Then a few days go by and I realize, “Ugh, I don’t want to do this at all.” In the past month alone I thought of writing an ebook unrelated to this blog, starting a site for male humor bloggers, and working on a podcast. The podcast thing is actually happening, and we’ll see how it goes. But, if after a few episodes it turns into a bust, oh well.
I’m an idea guy. I constantly think of ideas and then many don’t make it to execution phase. What I know is that success comes when I laser focus, do some serious hard work, and build a long-term plan. This blog is an example. I know I probably won’t be able to pay the bills through it for many years, if ever. If I want a book deal, I will need 70k more Twitter followers for a publishing firm to come calling. By writing every day I’m trying to share my life with my readers and also build my writing skills.
So, no matter what I write every day. This is the hard work, laser focus, and long term strategy. Maybe in 2013 this will change and I’ll scale back. I have no idea. One of the questions I do have is about all the stuff I’ve already written. I never go back and read it. I feel like I should revisit old dailies once in awhile. I can’t remember hardly anything I’ve penned and when I return to a previous post I often find one line or a joke that makes me feel like an actual writer.
Since I’m not a “real” writer I’m not sure if there’s recommendation in how to balance your writing life. Is it strictly output? Or going back and retreading old material for nostalgic purpose? I mean, once every few years I’ll go through old photos which feels good. But do people read their old diaries? I think the answer is generally “yes” if you haven’t kept a diary for years and years. But I write every day. Maybe I should read one old post a day, just to remember where I came from.
Whatever. This is stuff that isn’t interesting to you.
But, here is something that is!
Maybe!
I hereby promise to reply to every last comment on my blog that I haven’t yet. Currently there are over four hundred outstanding. I knocked out two hundred today alone. I had vowed when I started this blog that I would reply to every comment for as long as I could. Like missing a day at the gym, after missing a day of replying to comments, I let it go for a few months.
One of the nice things about going back and doing comments is that it forces me to re-read old content. Plus, it reminds me how lucky I am that people take the time to write.
Less than 1% of you reading write comments. And, trust me, I get it. I probably wouldn’t write comments either if I wasn’t a blogger. Even if 3% of you did, I wouldn’t have the time to respond. So, everyone, keep doing what you’re doing. If you just read, you’re great in my book.
I feel bad about missing so many comments. I have funny readers that I owe responses. Plus, I love reading old comments, too.
I now have over 5k comments on the site and I wish I had a better way to go back and read them. They’re backed up, so I’ll have ’em forever. Don’t ask for them back, though. They’re mine, dammit!
(if you get a lot of emails from LiveFyre, that’s just me replying to your comments – feel free to reply back!)