this was good.
Here's a thing.
I often find it hard to write stuff for a blog. I like writing I think, but I have a tendency for attempting to make my posts too much of a thing.
By that, I mean that unless I have a story to share - made up or real - or an idea that I can make an entertaining and complete 700-1000 word post about, I often don't bother at all.
Or, I simply can't settle on writing one post because I have too many conflicting ideas for other posts going on in my head as I'm trying to write this one. Then I run out of brains, or consciousness, and leave it all for another time—which often doesn't arrive.
Or there are my attempts to write as the writing character I have in my head and to write something funny, instead of just writing something simple by, or about, me. (I had reasons for not being me on the internet. They are very old now, but it's ingrained self-preservation behaviour that I find difficult to shake.) I try to write in 'his' voice, and find myself forcing jokes. I edit my own voice out as I'm going, to make sure that the post is staying consistent with the character I am pretending to be.
If I can't do any of that for any reason, I just don't post anything and go off for a wallow in self-pity, wondering why I can't do it, and also wondering if perhaps I'm not any good for writing anything any more.
Anyway, recently I read a post by Merlin Mann, called 'That was good'.
It's a really simple idea. You just roll around conducting your life as you normally would, except you want to find yourself noticing things that are good. Just regular life stuff. And the smaller or more inconsequential the good thing is, the better.
Your bagel toasted perfectly. You correctly plugged in a thumb drive on the first try. A baby farted and it was funny.
The important part is you're noticing. Got it?
Merlin Mann
The post isn't about blogs or writing, but to me they did relate. In it, Merlin describes the noticing of good things, any small good thing, and about how that can connect you to the truth of life and make you feel better about everything, just by noticing the good things more.
It reminded me of the hashtag #3GoodThings on the fediverse, where people try to post just three positive points about their day, even if it has been a trying day overall.
I didn't actually know what I was trying to do on this blog before, but it gave me an idea of what I could be doing instead of whatever it was.
I don't want to feed more nonsense, sarcasm or ranting onto the internet any more, funny or not. It has enough of that already.
I wondered if instead I could try to pick out and notice things that make me feel 'That was good' in my day? Then just simply try to write about and post about them instead?
They shouldn't have to be funny. It doesn't have to be a whole thing. They could only be 150-200 words, and they may not have the traditional beginning, middle and end, or a point to make.
It should just be something positive that made me think 'that was good'.
I'll tag posts with #ThatWasGood.
Written by a real person who completely ignores red wavy underlining and uses perfectly legitimate brand new words that just haven't made it to a dictionary yet.
Post Link: https://skryblans.com/this-was-good
There is a star to click down there if you are old school and like to click on stars. ↓