Daily writing — What’s the point?
It’s Day 4 of my latest 5×15 Writing Challenge; my writers have almost earned themselves a nice donation to global literacy nonprofit Room to Read. Through Day 3 we’ve got a completion rate of 100%—the highest I’ve ever had for one of these challenges. I’m thrilled to help so many people discover the joys of daily writing.
And then I opened up my email to find this intriguing headline from blogger Josh Bernoff: “Is it selfish or smart to do something creative every day?” Josh blogs daily—well, Monday through Friday—so I suspected he’d be arguing the latter point. And he is.
His post reminded me of all the things I loved about blogging daily. And all the things I’ve missed since I stopped a little over two months ago. I still write every day: today’s Day 640. But, well…Here’s the comment I left on Josh’s blog:
I’m also a writer. I spend my day writing for clients, so what’s the daily creative outlet I choose? Writing.
I’ve spent a minimum of 15 minutes a day writing for the last 639 days. (640 if this post takes me long enough.)
Seth Godin says blogging daily is the smartest business decision he’s ever made. And who am I to argue with Seth Godin? So early on, I decided to turn my daily writing into daily blogging.
But I stopped blogging daily back in November when a very smart marketer I know gently suggested that perhaps I needed to focus less on creating content and more on getting that content noticed. So I’ve been writing occasional pieces for other platforms, like this piece on blogging-withdrawal.
Still, as smart as my marketer friend is (and she is), it now occurs to me that she’s probably not as smart as Seth Godin. I miss blogging, for all of the reasons you state: it was a great way to jumpstart my day; it got me thinking about things I might have dismissed in the past; and, yes, sometimes it strikes a chord for my readers. I think I might have to get back to it.
Maybe I already have.