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In December of 2020, January of 2021, and again in January of 2022, I wrote and posted a bloggy bit each and every day of those months. I thought it was more recent but the last time I posted a piece every day of a month was essentially four years ago.
This year, as of the end of November, I have only posted 33 times. That is a lowly three posts per month. If I post that average in December, it will be my lowest annual count since 2017. I attribute this dip in productivity to the lethargy I wrote about in August: A Lethargic July. Last night on a flight back from Los Angeles visiting my daughter and her family for Thanksgiving, I was feeling energized and I got the notion to post every day this month.
To accomplish this, I will have to overcome the lethargy which up until now I have only accomplished for a few days at a time here and there. I will have to be more disciplined, and I will need to stay off of social media where I lose hours watching reels of all things. I hate and resent being manipulated by an algorithm, wasting hours, and having nothing to show for it. I know I am not alone in this addictive behavior.
So, let’s see what I can do with this brand new month. I am going to try to produce a post a day. This is day one. I have a lot of other must dos at this time of the year the will be vying for my time and attention. First, I have the end of semester grading and the submitting of grades. I have a concert this coming Sunday with the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago. There is a practice on Thursday and a dress rehearsal on Saturday all in Hyde Park each of which will consume more than half and day each. Then there all the prepartions and festivities for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Posting daily will be a daunting task for which I might have to pre-build an inventory of posts.
A bright spot this year has been on my poetry blog. I have written 35 poems this year which is the most I have written ever. I have average 8-9 poems a year since 2009. If poems are the writing equivalent of reels, it all balances out in some odd way. I would boost these more on social media, but I am less sure (maybe secure is even a better word) of my skills in this genre. Here are two poems that the Armenian Weekly published since October.
I have a list of topics I want to write about and, sadly, several friends that have passed on that I need to write about. Certainly, the crazy state of this country and the world is good for another half dozen posts. I want to write about AI and its impact on my own writing and what I am now believing is the best way to use it in the classrooms.
The topics are there, I just need to make sure I carve out the time to write.
