This blog has been pretty much hit-and-miss since I first started it on Blogger a year ago and it wasn’t until a month ago that I really began to make a point of posting something every day.  Even when I went away for the past long-weekend I didn’t miss a beat thanks to pre-scheduled posts.

Then yesterday came and went and I didn’t post anything without even a twinge of guilt.  I can make the excuse that we were hosting my mom’s friends for her birthday, or that I had a lot to do, what with going for a tetanus shot (my dad’s scotty wanted to see what my ear tastes like), taking my wife’s car to the shop and taking an old television set to the pawn shop (they didn’t want it), and simply didn’t have time.  But that would be a lie.

The truth is I didn’t post anything yesterday because I didn’t post anything on Saturday, Sunday or Monday either.  Sure, there were posts, but they weren’t written on those days and three days were all it took for me to break the habit of writing each day.

And that’s the cardinal rule in writing, isn’t it?  Every book and blog and article on writing give their own set of do’s (according to the OED a plural noun that’s written with an apostrophe – I checked) and don’ts, often contradicting each other, but on this they all agree:  YOU MUST WRITE EVERY DAY.

That’s what this blog is for me.  It’s something that forces me to write every day.  Seeing my view and follow numbers climb is nice.  Likes and awards have the power to significantly brighten up my day.  I’ve already mentioned how I enjoy the discussions, both on my and others’ blogs.  But ultimately this blog is my space to express my thoughts.  It’s about improving my writing and helping me sort through the stuff in my head.  It’s talking out loud in public.  If my ramblings happen to help someone, or inspire them, I consider that a bonus.

I write this blog so I can write, especially when I’m struggling to work on my novel.  It’s a habit I’m forcing myself to cultivate, hoping it will spill over into my other writing so I can start making some real progress.  And for it to become a habit I must do it every day.

But I think I’ll stop here for now because I sense I’m starting to ramble (and my derriere really hurts from that tetanus shot – absolutely unrelated; I just thought you should know).  I’ll probably delete it tomorrow.  One gets out of practice with writing very quickly, it seems.

Update:  Judging by the amount of likes this post has received I’m thinking I’ll ramble a bit more often.  If it’s what my audience wants, who am I to disappoint?

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