Jumping on the bandwagon

...the #reverb10 bandwagon that is. I need some incentive to keep writing, and although NaBloPo seems to go all year now, it really only works for me in November.

I'm several days late, but I am going to catch up. So here goes.

December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell)

New...I think my word for 2010 is new, although the newness really began a few months before 2010 began.  I began the new year three months into a new position, three months into living on my own (read alone) for the first time in my life, and still figuring it all out. My routines and rhythms have changed over the year as the newness has started to wear off, but you know, I am still figuring it all out--what it means to be rector of a parish, what it's like to live alone, to parent only adults, to live in a new town without having children to settle in as a way to help me connect. All new.

I can no longer claim newness as this year draws to a close; I can't use it as an excuse for not recognizing someone or not knowing how to get somewhere, or even for not having a social life. The honeymoon is definitely over in my job, and the hard realities are setting in--that's not all bad, by the way, but it is hard in many ways.

A year from now, what do I want my word to be? Happy?  Satisfied? Does that sound trite?  I am ready for a year that just is--no big changes, no big drama, just things moving along. Is it tempting fate to hope for that?


December 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? (Author: Leo Babauta)

To quote Songbird, "Aside from working and sleeping?" Yeah, that.

At work I write newsletters and bulletins and correspondence. I view my writing at work at least in part as teaching (this applies mostly but not exclusively to the newsletter).  At home I blog and I write sermons.  After blogging for more than 450 consecutive days, I rather abruptly all but stopped when my work life became unbloggable. I've blogged sporadically since then, but I really lost steam. And the blogging community has changed as I noted here which make blogging less rewarding than it used to be.

My other writing is sermons....and really everything else I do does sort of interfere with that, at least in terms of time. I know some people who are really good as setting aside a writing day during the week, but I'm not. And becasue I *can* produce something at the last minute I often do. To be honest, I write best under some pressure, so writing on Saturday works okay most of the time. The part I don't like is not taking or having adequate prep time during the week.

Now in truth what I do all day also DOES contribute to my writing in that it connects me with my parish who are my main audience, and in that provides inspiration and direction for what I write/preach, and often for what I blog. So it's not all black and white here. 

I'm not an inherently disciplined person, but I sometimes wish I were more disciplined about writing more/better.

ETA:  As I was writing my post on wonder I realized there is something I do now that interferes with my writing and doing other things: watching TV. Ironically I don't even own a TV but over the last couple of years I've begun watching on-line...it was stress relief and then it became habit. I don't watch that much, but even one show a night takes up time that I used to spend doing other things. And when I come home from work late and tired, there's not that much discretionary time. How do people keep up with a full TV schedule and still get other things done?

Skipping December 3 for the moment...