2 years ago yesterday, I published my first post here on The Diary. And looking back at those 2 years… oh, man, I have been through a lot.
In my first year of blogging on The Diary, I promised myself to publish 13 posts per month and I will blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thankfully, I reached my post goals and schedule mainly because of my Minute Warning series (where I write anything under time pressure under 10 to 30 minutes). And if I were to publish a longer post, I have a writing process that works. You can check my first-year retrospective on this post.
And today, in my second year of blogging at The Diary, I’m looking back and checking if my writing processes still work and if my blogging schedule still serves me well.
Making Minute Warning Posts
Thankfully, in my second year of blogging at The Diary, the Wild Mind Writing method (the method I use to make the Minute Warning series) still works! Because of the method, The Diary currently has 213 Minute Warning posts out of 330 overall posts. And the wonderful thing is that when I write a Minute Warning post, I’m not worried about writing longer posts. I can just speak my mind and write about how my mind went (something that is in line with The Diary being a personal blog). And sometimes, I can also use the Minute Warning series to force myself to write even if I don’t feel like writing at all.
But while there are benefits of using the Wild Mind Writing method, somehow I think it is hindering me creatively…
Not Doing More Creative, Lengthy Posts
While the Wild Mind Writing method works for me and I like sharing my Songs of the Moment, I think I can do more than a quick post. I want to make more literary pieces and lengthier personal posts.
How many poems I made in The Diary’s first year? 18. How about in the second year? 2. I’m not supposed to be disappointed by that statistic because I’m no writing machine, but I’m still disappointed. As for blogging my Songs of the Moment, they are meant to be made quickly, but sometimes I try to be more descriptive about the current song I’m obsessed with. I really hope I can do more creative posts in the coming months or perhaps years.
But even if I have the Wild Mind Writing method and I want to make more posts (especially creative ones), sometimes I have reasons not to blog on time.
Not Blogging on Time Because of Reasons
When I started blogging at The Diary, I published posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But slowly, since The Diary’s sophomore year started and I started doing other things like exercising more (aerobics, jogging, walking), spending more time with family, listening to my favorite music, or watching pro wrestling or my favorite series, I started neglecting my blogging schedule. And sometimes, even if I can write about how sad I am, I end up not wanting to blog at all.
Normally, whenever I make a mistake like neglecting my blogging schedule, I do my absolute best to get back up… but not before I do my bad habit: beating myself up internally. But this time, I stopped myself and forgave myself. Blogging at The Diary is not a job. I’m only human. I’m not a writing machine; I wish I was, but I’m not. And it’s great that I’m living outside blogging. And when did exercising more become a bad thing? If I don’t live outside blogging and writing in general and take care of my health, it will ruin me and I will not have something to write about.
As for me not writing at all because I feel so down, come on… do I need to explain that?
But wait. What about your blogging schedule? I have a new, more flexible one: I try to make 3 posts any time during the week, not just every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But if I can’t do that, I try to regularly blog until I reach my monthly blog count. (I did that last January, and I feel good about it. Good job, self!)
And I quote my recent Notes to Self, “It’s about progress, not perfection.”
“Blog Header Image: Pending”
Since December 29, 2024, I have started uploading a featured image for my posts with the text “Blog Header Image: Pending”. My reasons are that (1) I want to make better header images and (2) I don’t have the time to make those images yet. I hope to clear my header image backlog in the coming days… or months.
And that’s my second-year retrospective on The Diary. Like I said in my first-anniversary post, “As long as I’m alive and kicking, I will continue to tell my stories here.” And moving forward, I hope I can get it together, follow the schedule I imposed on myself, and make as much content as I can.
Happiest second anniversary, The Diary!
Ω
Published on February 7, 2025 at 11:31pm. Edited on February 8, 2025 at 1:08pm.
The Diary of The Deranged Writer 