I’m Decreasing Post Fequency Again

Brevity is not my forte. I don’t know why, but as the time goes by I seem to spend more time on each post and it is becoming increasingly harder to keep up with my self imposed schedule. If you check your feed reader daily, you probably noticed that I clock in 5 posts every week. Furthermore I like to always be 3-4 posts ahead of the schedule so that I can go back, proofread and rewrite some of the stuff that is queued up.

Yes, you wouldn’t be able to tell but I do proofread most of the stuff that goes out at least once. Naturally, I end up rewriting whole paragraphs when I do, and guess what that means? Brand new and juicy typos and grammar errors that get published. Only way around it is to keep proofreading your stuff until you can make a full pass without making major or minor rewrites – and even then you can’t be sure. As you can probably tell, I don’t go crazy with proofreading and I let stuff slide. Most of the time really glaring errors will be pointed out in the first 3 or 4 comments and I’ll fix them right away.

These days I seem to write close to 1000 words per post. I usually don’t aim for that number. I write until I feel like I made a logical and/or compelling argument. Believe it or not, this usually requires that many words. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m suffering from some sort of verbal diarrhea. Sometimes I manage to post something shorter, but I tend to make up for it by writing much longer post the very next day.

If you think about it, 1k words per day, plus proofreading, plus research adds up to quite a big chunk of time I pump into this blog every week. It is a labor of love of course. I wouldn’t be doing it if I was not enjoying it. But lately this pace has been kicking my ass. Not sure why. Am I becoming more and more verbose as the time progresses? Am I spending more time re-writing my posts? Do I simply have less free time these days? All of the above? Can I buy a vowel?

Whatever the reason, I’m usually barely making it. My queue gets depleted almost every week these days. I usually catch up on the weekends, and knock out 2-3 posts for the cumming week, and then tend to struggle finish the remaining two at least a day ahead of when they are supposed to go live. This didn’t happen before.

Hell, I used to post daily, but that sort of ended last January when I took Sundays off. I was fine for a while, but then I was starting to burn out again and decided to stop posting on Saturdays as well.

Now I’m once again in the same place, and I decided to shave another day off my schedule. I’m thinking Wednesday – for symmetry. I’ll post twice at the begging of the week, and twice at the end. Not to mention that Wednesday is my prep day for the class I’m teaching Thursdays and also the day they show Lost on TV. I’m not even going to get into the rant about Lost because that’s another 1000 words. Needless to say I watch it out of habit these days. Still, that’s one less day I need to worry about.

Don’t ask me why I even have this schedule. I don’t know. I am a slacker, procrastinator and a lazy bum at heart. If I don’t have a schedule, you would probably be lucky to see a post every other month. So there.

Also, I just noticed that it took me almost 700 words just to say “I probably won’t be posting on Wednesdays no more”. I’m just going to end this post here before I go off on a tangent again.

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7 Responses to I’m Decreasing Post Fequency Again

  1. Adam Kahtava CANADA Google Chrome Windows says:

    Typo! “2-3 posts for the cumming” :)

    Blogging frequency is a tough one. I helped write a book a while back, the deadlines killed my creativity and made me hate writing. I think blogging / writing should be enjoyable.

    I’ve never noticed the frequency of your posts, although I do notice bloggers that post too much. Too many frequent posts by too many authors in a RSS Reader can be overwhelming. Often these bloggers lose integrity in the name of frequency. Quality over quantity!! :)

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  2. Daosus UNITED STATES Mozilla Firefox SuSE Linux says:

    Luke,

    I actually really appreciate well-written, well thought out posts on a regular basis. Length is not a problem for me. Heck, I just read them :D At 5k words a week, I doubt anyone could call you a slacker. Do what you gotta do, and stop when it’s no longer fun.

    Daos

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  3. Luke Maciak UNITED STATES Mozilla Firefox Ubuntu Linux Terminalist says:

    Oh, it’s still fun. The great part is that I get to write about whatever is on my mind at any given time which can often be hit or miss with the readers.

    I love my little blog. It’s just that I don’t want to neglect other things because of it. :)

    Oh, and I hardly notice frequency on blogs that I read either – except for the few I have on my “awesome” list. Like Steve Yegge for example – but he only posts once every other century so meh.

    I make these posts as part of my ritual. Once I announce that there will be a drop in frequency I’m no longer tempted to catch up or slog it out to keep up with the pace.

    Yes, I’m a strange creature.

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  4. jambarama UNITED STATES Mozilla Firefox Windows Terminalist says:

    Hey, you provide me with thoughtful commentary and a place to discuss the ideas – I’m thrilled you post once a week. When posting gets rough to keep up with, I see two courses of action – one, cut back frequency; two, cut back quality. I’m glad you’re doing the former, rather than the latter.

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  5. Mart SINGAPORE Mozilla Firefox Windows Terminalist says:

    Even if you post as infrequently as Steve Yegge, this blog would still be a blast to read. Your posts have helped me a lot in transitioning from “idiot” to “moron”. :D

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  6. Wikke BELGIUM Mozilla Firefox Windows says:

    [quote comment=”11391″]When posting gets rough to keep up with, I see two courses of action – one, cut back frequency; two, cut back quality. I’m glad you’re doing the former, rather than the latter.[/quote]
    Totally agree with that, your blog is one of the best blogs in existence!

    I don’t reply very often, but I read your blog every day :-)

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  7. mcai8sh4 UNITED KINGDOM Opera Linux Terminalist says:

    I check your blog every weekday after work, I look forward to your entertaining, often educational posts. 4 posts a week is still good going, and as you can see above, nobody cares about frequency, thats not why we’re here.
    To ease your self imposed workload, use someone else as a proof reader, only try to hit mon, wed, fri with uploads and I’m sure you’ll not know what to do with all your free time :D
    As you may have guessed from my comments – I also suffer from verbal diarrhea. To summise – try a proof reader, just post mon, wed, fri….. erm PROFIT!!?

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