A flirtation with daily blogging

Do I dare commit to a daily blogging habit?

Now that I’ve set about to think about blogging as an infinite game, I ought to decide what rules I want to follow. 

Here are the rules Herbert Lui follows for his own blogging, along with my own interpretation and responses.

Rule 1: Write and publish one post at your blog every day.

This is a rule about frequency. I am intrigued by the challenge of posting to my blog every single day. As I’m still early in my journey and enthusiasm, so it’d be easy to claim right now that, “Yes, I’m going to challenge myself to post every single day!” But I don’t think I’m quite there yet. I haven’t thought through how I’d execute on this. So for now, I’m softly entertaining the idea of a daily frequency rule. 

Rule 2: Every narrative you tell yourself gives energy to keep blogging instead of draining that energy away.

Considering that narratives like “my blog needs to make money,” “my blog is only worthwhile if other people see it,” and the like are really what killed the joy of blogging for me in the past, I wholeheartedly accept this rule without modification. Only narratives that energize and promote more consistent writing are allowed.

Rule 3: Each post is so energizing to write that you would have written it even if nobody else saw it.

I’m not sure if I need this as a separate rule. It seems really similar to Rule 2 above. Energizing is an interesting word. I like it. The post doesn’t have to energize other people, or I don’t have to publish it based on whether I think it will energize other people. For me to with the game, it must energize me. I’m keeping the rule.

Rule 4: Each post must contain at minimum 5 original sentences you wrote. 

This rule is about volume or length of writing. From past experience, I know that one liners are not fulfilling. They don’t energize me. I’ve done it. It’s more akin to vaguebooking or tweeting, neither of which I like. 5 sentences is an arbitrary rule, but I do think it’s a good place to start. What I’m really after, though, is a developed thought as opposed to a fleeting thought. It doesn’t have to be completely developed or written as an essay or full argument. 5 sentences is easier to measure, though. I’m keeping it.

Rule 5: Every time you publish or schedule a new post, you win.

This rule seems redundant to me. It’s the same as Rule 1, stated a different way. 

Rule 6: Every post must have 0% A.I. generated or edited text.

I agree totally with this rule. Here’s why. The point of publishing a blog post every day isn’t to publish a blog post every day. There are myriad purposes and benefits to doing it that all have to do with the act of writing as opposed to the act of pushing content out. These include clarifying your thinking and finding your voice. Writing is thinking. Writing is telepathy. Writing is a meeting of the minds, and minds can’t meet if there isn’t a human mind on both ends (reader and writer).

Rule 7: Every time a positive outcome happens, you file it in a happiness folder.

How nice! I have a folder in my journal called “nice comments,” where I store a record of times people have paid me a compliment. I also keep a folder in my work email called “wins” where I store good news emails. And I read testimonials from my coaching clients when I question when I need a pick me up in that endeavor. I do find it useful and important to remind myself of the wins. Keeping this rule.