Blogging is sort of like my meal planning, only reversed.
I plan out my meals on Friday each week, figuring out what I will be cooking, what I need to pick up from the store, what I’m going to have as snacks, should I get a sweet treat or not. It’s all written down and mapped out so I can survive the coming journey of my week, making sure my rations will last.
On Saturday I go shopping. I think of it like going to market. It’s an event, my social day. I do as much of my venturing that day as possible, making sure I pick up everything I need, and only getting what is needed.
It has to be on the list. If it’s not, then it doesn’t get bought.
Trust me, it took a while to gain the self discipline to adhere to that rule, and I still slip up sometimes…
“I have no idea how that egg nog magically got into my cart… Hmm… well since I’m already in check out I might as well buy it…”
Sunday I try to do most of my cooking. That way when I need to pack for work, I just pull out the containers for that day and put them into my lunchbox. When I come home the containers go into the dishwasher. No need to worry about cooking or cleaning since I’m normally tired from my day. The hard stuff is taken care of.
With this system that I have build for myself, I really don’t have left overs. Everything is accounted for. Everything is used.
I blog in much the same way.
I have my daily writings where I muse, ponder, and reflect on my day. They tend to be introspective and free form. Sometimes they ramble and are long winded. Sometimes they’re super short because I’m tired.
But just like I need to eat everyday to sustain my body, I must also feed my spirit, and writing is a form of nutrition for my soul, so I try to write at least once everyday.
I have my weekly recaps where I look back at all of those daily writings and sort of analyze my week. Was it good? Bad? What did I get done? Am I happy with what I learned? Am I feeling fulfilled? Were there any accomplishments? Obstacles?
I look at everything as a whole. Did I do the best I could with my resources, my time, my energy? If not where can I improve for next week?
And then there are the odd posts. Things like the daily prompts, or my ‘Dragon Horde’ posts; pictures of projects I was able to finish. I guess those can sort of be like the treats, or the times I go out ad hoc with friends to lunch.
I didn’t plan for those posts, but it seemed like a worthwhile investment of my time, so I have no regrets over it.
Very rarely do I end up with ‘extra’. There isn’t anything left hanging around in the fridge or in my mind. Nothing hoping to be worthy enough of being used, nothing sitting around wondering if it’s going to be tossed into the trashcan because it wasn’t good enough.
I use everything that I have, because everything has a purpose.