I blogged daily for a 6 day stretch a couple weeks ago, which is the longest continuous stretch I’ve ever done. It was stimulating and stressful at the same time. I haven’t heard from the Pulitzer committee about any of the posts yet, but it’s not the quality that matters. Writing is more about the process than the product, and I know from experience that writing helps me think. And while most of the posts were written for my own benefit, I really enjoyed the response that I got from family and friends about Playdoh. I think I’ve read that post 100 times and I still laugh out loud at the end of it. That’s the post that started the stretch off. As soon as I had put Kavi to bed, I knew that I wanted to share that story. I wrote it down quickly, so I wouldn’t forget it. That writing process stimulated me to want to write more, so I made it an internal goal to write a post daily.

Then I had two night shifts and the streak was broken. I’ve had a few days off, but I still haven’t written anything. I’m still learning clojure, but I fear writing about something that I know nothing about. Even though I’ve heard others say that this is the best time to write about a topic. I’ve also constructed a vicious cycle in my head. I want to learn clojure. I want to write about what I learn. I start doing so, but then I skip a day or so. Now, when I have free time, I think about learning clojure, but then I also think about the fact that I should write about it. And since I’m already behind, I don’t want to get further behind, so maybe I shouldn’t read that interesting tutorial until I’ve caught up on writing about what I’ve learned. Next thing I know, I’m monitoring Twitter streams second-by-second for imgur links.

I’m hoping that writing about my mental blocks will help me overcome them. I plan to write more frequently, mostly for my own benefit, but I’m not going to let it get in the way of learning cool, interesting stuff. If my writing is disjointed, so be it. I can fill in the gaps later if anyone cares.