The Practice

You know what's great about having a blog? My favorite part about the whole thing? It's a reason for me to write every day.

I really enjoy this thing, updating it, for a lot of reasons. It's a way to keep in touch with people I don't see often enough. It's a way to get rants out of my system. But mostly, it's a reason to write every day, something that makes me feel guilty when I don't. Bit of incentive.

Sometimes I can't really think of anything to write about. Sometimes it takes a while, sitting at the computer, to come up with a topic. But I always do, because I sit down and say "I'm going to write a post today." That's where I start. I don't wait for topics: I make them.

That's the practice. That's the point to writing every day. It helps me to learn how to do that. Because everything else I know about writing basically comes down to one thing: the only way to get better is to write. The only way to get a lot better is to write a lot. And the only way to write a lot is to go looking for things to write about.

This post being an example. I says to myself, "What should I write about today?" And that question, naturally, leads to the answer, "I should write about writing," because that's where my mind is. (Also, because other people have been posting about posting, and that suggests some thoughts.) It's not a great post, but it's something. That's the point.