Two Year Blitz

On March 31, 2020, I challenged myself to do something I had actually done once before - only moreso.  I challenged myself to publish a blog a day for three months.  I had accomplished the "blog a day" once before in January of 2019 (one month).  But, the blogging that followed for the rest of that year may have been some of my least productive for quite some time.

I actually met the goal I set for myself in 2020, publishing something every single day from March 31, 2020 to June 30 of that same year.  I then promptly took a day off on July 1st, but came back with something on the 2nd and promptly ran off another eight in a row.  

Now, here we are.  Two years after I set the initial goal.  

I took the screenshot you see at the top of this post on March 3.  For 2022, I had yet to miss a day of publishing a blog.  Much to my surprise, I looked and found that I had not missed a day in November or December of 2021 either.  A new run of consecutive posts that exceeds my prior streak.  As a matter of fact, I have not missed a single day this year up to this point. That surprises even me.

Since the first string of posts in the Spring of 2020, during the beginnings of the pandemic, there have been well over 600 blog posts shared here with those who care to read them.  One entry will typically have from five hundred to fifteen hundred words.  If I might be so bold as to suggest a reasonable average of 800 words per entry, we have 480,000 - and probably closer to a half million - words available for us to read, ponder, or even.... ignore.  All as we see fit.  

I will give you a few hints as to how this has been possible.  First, I have my mother to thank for her willingness to teach her children how to be touch typists.  I am afraid I would have very little inclination to write as much as I do if I had to search for each letter of every one of those 480,000 words.  

Second, the goal is to PUBLISH one entry a day.  It has not been to WRITE an entry a day.  There are times when I have very little that makes me want to write.  Then, there are moments where I just want to write... and write A LOT.  It might be more accurate that I EDIT something every day.  And, I still find typos and errors when I go back and read something - much to my horror and irritation.

Third, I reminded myself that I already had a great deal of decent material written.  Some of it was for the newsletters we emailed to our customers in the early years of our CSA.  We even printed a few out!  You may have noticed that material that has been sitting on our old farm website is steadily becoming blog posts too.  There is no need to completely re-invent the wheel for each entry.  Besides - I bet you most of the redone material is completely new to most people who see it the second time around.  And, there is no such thing as good writing - just good re-writing.  Some of the best entries are things that have had other iterations.

And, some of those iterations.... I'm not sure I want you to see them anymore!

Finally, there is this.  I read an entry by John Pavlovitz that confirmed for me part of the reason for my blog blitz.  The title of his blog was "The World Needs Good News This Year - Give it Some."

Well folks.  Those who read the Genuine Faux Farm blog are a small group - but a group I care about.  If I can fill a small corner of your worlds with something thoughtful, something interesting, something new, something beautiful, something that encourages us to exercise gratitude, awe and wonder.  If I can do that on a regular basis.

Then I am content.

But, I am also looking at stepping back from the daily posts now in hopes that I can create some "better" posts.  Still on a regular basis - just not likely on a daily basis.  There are still a series of posts sharing recipes that are all lined up for Tuesdays - all the way to mid-May.  There will be Postal History Sunday entries every week as well.  And then I will likely average two other posts per week.  I think four posts a week ought to be just fine, don't you?

Have a good day and great remainder of your week!