Another Lesson Learned

The topic for the final week of Blapril is "Lessons Learned". I think that's been covered to some extent in previous posts, particularly the one about "Staying Motivated" but let's see...

Opportunity

At the end of Blaugust 2018, when life was very different (aka "normal"), I'd managed to post every day in August, finishing with a grand total of thirty-two posts. I had this to say about the experience:

 "It's been a trip but I can't say I'm sorry it's over. Turns out there's a very good reason I don't normally post on work days. It makes me slightly stressed, it mildly irritates Mrs Bhagpuss and sometimes I just don't have much to say." 

For last year's Blaugust things weren't normal any more. I was off work, at home undergoing chemotherapy, not going out very much at all. Despite feeling quite feeble physically, I had plenty of time on my hands and no shortage of mental energy. I found no trouble posting more than daily, racking up no fewer than forty-two posts in the calendar month. In summing up, something I didn't get around to doing until the week after Blaugust had finished, I said:

"Last Blaugust I was at work and getting a post out every day was tough, particularly mid-week. It doesn't surprise me at all that the limiting factor for me is time, not inspiration or ideas. There were plenty of days when I could have done a second or third post from the half-formed possibilites buzzing around my brain. I only held back because I also wanted to play some games and even with the entire day to yourself there are only so many hours. "

This year for Blapril, normality seems like a half-forgotten dream. Like most of us, I'm under virtual house arrest in lockdown and once again I've been banging out better than a post a day. My total for the month fell right in the middle at thirty-five but April is, of course, a day shorter than August.

The conclusion I draw from this is that, given the opportunity, my natural posting frequency is daily or more. Over the years I've fallen into a pattern of posting mostly on days when I don't work so it's hardly surprising that when I'm not working I post every day.

What has surprised me during Blapril is that, unlike last Blaugust, when I made time for gaming, this year I've felt much more inclined to give games a raincheck and carry on writing.

What I can't tell is whether this is a phase, whether it's related to the unusual circumstances (in both cases there's a background of imminent mortality, which may be sharpening some subconscious desire to "leave a mark"), whether it has something to do with the ongoing drought of new triple-A MMORPGs or whether, given the option, I really would always rather write about games than play them.

I guess I'll find out when I finally retire and have all my time to myself all day, every day.

Organization

I am not a naturally organized person. Never have been. I am good at organizing things that have to be organized but anything that can manage on its own can jolly well look after itself.

My normal practise while blogging is to think no further ahead than the day I'm posting. That had been working perfectly well for me since I started and until now I'd seen no reason to change it. Then, when Blapril started, entirely by accident I somehow found myself with pre-written posts in the bank. For almost the entire month I've been posting in arrears, putting up pieces I wrote two or three days earlier.

And it's not really working for me. For a while it had a slightly liberating effect, allowing me to put up a finished post first thing in the morning and have the rest of the day to myself but since what I did with most of the day was write another post, that didn't have quite the impact you might imagine.

After a while, even that limited freedom began to dissipate as I found myself re-working each supposedly finished post before hitting "Publish". Instead of being a couple of days ahead it felt more as though I was always slightly behind. For the last couple of weeks, even though I've only published one post a day, I've effectively been writing two.

I've also felt a number of times that the posts are becoming stale by the time they appear. In having them pre-written they lose some of their immediacy. It feels increasingly like a restraint rather than a release.

It's been a useful experiment but the lesson I take from it is that I'm better off coming to a blank page every day and just banging something out. I only have part two of the Beatles post lined up and ready to go now. I think I'll let that be the last one I sit on for a while.

Involvement

For last year's Blaugust I signed up as a Mentor and promptly vanished. Well, except for the forty-two posts... I was nominally on Discord but I rarely logged in. I did have an excuse. As I wrote when it was all over

 "I think the main Lesson I learned this year was that I should have skipped being a mentor when I realized I wasn't going to be 100% fit. I was in Discord for the week before the official start but then I had my various health scares and when that settled down it was a couple of weeks before I even remembered Discord was a thing."

When Blapril rolled around I remembered that and signed up as a participant only. Except Bel, being Bel, very kindly left me tagged as a Mentor anyway and I ended up being more active and involved than I expected.

Not that I did much. I'm never going to be someone who organizes gaming events or initiates anything. I've always been far more reactive than proactive. I did manage to remember to log into Discord almost every day, though, and to join in with the conversation, sometimes even in real time.

It's been fun. Maybe particularly so because our ongoing collective weirdness means normal socialization is on hold for many of us. I do get a huge percentage of my regular social contact at work, both with colleagues and with the public, talking at some length to whom is literally something I get paid to do. Discord has offered an enjoyable alternative.

I'll be staying in Discord when Blapril finishes, at least when I remember. I wonder how many people will hang around? Also, does anyone know why the notification bleeps carry on indefinitely after I close the Discord app? It's quite annoying because I tend to close it half an hour before I finally log off at night but it keeps on burbling at me even though I can't see what anyone's saying.

Brevity

And finally, the lesson I never learn. I really wish I could cut to the chase sometimes but apparently that's not part of my skill set. Believe it or not, most of my posts have already been quite heavily edited by the time they appear.

For years I've been saying I want to write shorter posts but I just can't seem to get the hang of it. And Blapril/Blaugust would be the ideal time because, as several people have pointed out, engagement with other people's content actually drops during these events because most of us simply can't find the time to read everything.

We've had several really excellent new entrants to the event this year. The standard of posting has been very high. I'm not going to call anyone out for praise specifically because that can suggest an unintended slight on anyone that doesn't get a mention but I've thoroughly enjoyed reading many of the posts I've seen this year.

I just wish I'd been able to see them all. I've tried but I keep missing stuff. And if I'm doing it I know other people must be too and anyway who would blame anyone if they opened one of my fifteen hundred word essays and thought "Yep...nope" and immediately closed it again? Not me, that's for sure.

So once again I tell myself I must try to stick to the point, trim the fat, not bury the lede. And then I end up writing long.

Oh, well. It keeps me off the streets.