Writing Blogs

Every eight days I have to post a blog. You would think I would be prepared for writing it when it comes up, but no. I usually do not remember until I look at the calendar in the morning of the blog day. Occasionally, I write the first draft a day or two in advance, but usually I am completely unprepared and spend a half hour, then an hour, then two, or even three thinking about what I should describe for the blog. Today was one of those days. Three hours after I finished math, I was still wandering around the boat, fiddling with things and trying to come up with a topic. Precisely three hours and seventeen minutes after I started looking for it, an idea hit me. I could write about blog writing.

For me, there are two paths I can take to get to pressing the publish button on Blogger. The first is what I call "production blogging" when I write blogs to the schedule. They are written, edited, and published on the same day. It is in writing these that I experience the most difficult part of school. This type of blog is notorious for choking, tripping, and complaining every step of the way. Although it is no fun in the moment, my writing has almost certainly improved through learning to persevere through a challenging day of writing.

The second is what I call "inspiration blogging." Whether a poem jumped through my hand to the paper or something exciting happened, I find the perfect inspiration. While I toy with different formats, sentence construction, and grammar problems, the page fills up before my eyes. What might take me an hour with a production blog, I can write in fifteen minutes when inspired. In spite of a considerable difference in effort, I think that the two types of blogs are indistinguishable to anyone not on board for the writing process itself.

When I look back through the blog, all I can think is, "Wow, I wrote all of that?" I certainly have my mom to thank for cracking the whip and driving us through it. While writing for almost three years, I have had my favorite blogs.  For some of them, it is because of the experience I described and for others, it was the actual writing. Five of my favorites are: Rude Awakening from February 2016; Exercise from September 2013; Sorry Sam/Sorry Sam 2.0 from March 2014; Glassy Grip from December 2013; and Food: A History of Sila Part 5 from October 2014.-Porter