COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Why aren't you writing EVERY DAY!?

Put "consistently blogging" on the list of things I thought I'd do if I ever had the time.

So why am I behind now? I blame three things.

1) Virtual School - I am on the computer a lot. I write a lot of emails. After being on the computer and writing replies for a good chunk of the day I don't feel like sitting down to write some more.

2) Shane - I've tended to let Shane play with electronics when I need him out of my hair for work. When I'm done working, I often have him take an electronics break....which means I can't get anything accomplished. Without the electronic pacifier, Shane rarely spends more than 5 minutes on his own without entering my orbit to poke, hum, talk, tackle, bother a cat, or rev up the dog. I like to sit down, get in the zone, and finish a post in one go and Shane turns into a start and stop, hodgepodge, concentration nightmare!

3) Some serious posts - My normal style of posts are really easy for me. I use pictures to make a visual outline. Then I either write chronologically or I rearrange pictures into how I view the narrative flowing. It's easy! I normally write about facts and my feelings on the matter, so I don't feel a need to do research or quote sources.

Whenever I want to write about something outside that framework, I feel the need to do it right. Anyone at anytime in the future could read my post, so I want to put a good effort into it.

When you're tired, been on the computer all day, and can't concentrate with a kid popping your thought bubble every time it finishes forming it makes a barrier to starting and that leads to a progress gap.

I'm aware of all this, but that hasn't been enough for me to surmount it.

So I'm breaking the ice with a warm-up post. I've uploaded pictures and I may skip the 'serious' posts for now until I catch back up and my work load drops (It's not like we're going anywhere!).

This post started with me thinking about  my blogging habits and I want to continue in that vein.

I made a graph.

Minimum: 40 posts in 2010 (partial year)            Minimum in Full year: 102 posts in 2011

Maximum: 494 posts in 2015                               Average post per year (all time): 321.18

It's been a long time since I posted a graph. I haven't commented on keywords like "Patrick" and "Poop" in a while either! ('Patrick' is up to 53 posts while 'Poop' is only at 18 nowadays!)

In the beginning, I didn't do daily posts. I usually posted little stories, thoughts, and reflections. I didn't have a smart phone at first, so there weren't as many pictures. 

In the middle, I posted A LOT. More than once a day! When I went back to look at those posts, I noticed that I would break up posts into shorter posts.

Now, I tend to do one post and string together multiple thoughts. Because I can be a little behind in my updating, I can post on one topic, but then string several days worth of pictures into it to make a longer story than a bullet-point. 

There's nothing wrong with any of my earlier posting styles. I tried different things and I've fallen into a groove. That groove works for me, but it's also contributing to that effort barrier that arises when I try to mix things up. 

Ice broken!

I only got a week behind this time. Hopefully, my fanbase (Nana) hasn't been too starved for posts!