Breaking the blogging fast

Skilly was instrumental in the writing of this post.
Clearly.

I'm back! And I learned that while I can take a break from blogging, I cannot take a break from writing. I kind of didn't expect that. I did just as much writing as I always do here, except I didn't hit publish.

Weird. I guess the upshot of all that is now I have a bank of posts to share. Kind of takes the pressure off on the self-imposed deadline front. ;)

Also weird in it's timing was this post by my friend Mara over at The Writing Life. She discusses a digital writing class she's taking, and how the first assignment was to explain "why blogging is important to us, personally." She concluded that blogging stretches her writing -- she's a grant writer by day and a novelist always -- and that it connects her with bloggers who are similarly-minded.

It was a compelling question to ponder, especially since it came during a time I was purposely trying NOT to blog. And you know, my reasons are similar to Mara's reasons: My blog allows me to write in ways that are different than what I produce as a reporter for our hometown newspaper, and it links me to others who are interested in minimalism, zero waste, cats, coffee, words and silliness awesomeness.

But that wasn't my first thought at all, the stretching of my skills and the connection with others... it was this:

I blog because… I think it has more to do with compulsion than anything else. It’s just that it’s writing and not, like, meth, so no one thinks to stage an intervention.

I started Pointless Ramble because I wanted to write more. And have an excuse to do so. Writing is something that I have always done, be it stories or poetry (we don't need to discuss the poetry because wow, awful) or essays or letters or newspaper features or just scribbling away in my journal. When I started blogging, I wasn't writing nearly as much in real life as I write these days -- sometimes I write so much at work that my fingers literally ache -- but even though I'm writing more than ever, the compulsion never ends. The blog is an outlet for the extra words.

Is posting three times a week sustainable? That IS what I'm trying to figure out. Maybe I need to drop it down to two. I don't know. I'm still pondering that one.

P.S. As with all my published writing, I try not to think about who actually reads my pointless rambles. It's easier to pretend that I'm still writing in a journal that is just for myself (that's called "anxiety disorder." SO MUCH FUN!). But I do appreciate all of you who take the time to read my words (Ann has read EVERY SINGLE POST. Someone needs to get her an award). It always amazes me when I see I've had hits from people in Germany or France or even Canada -- how did you guys even find me? I'll probably never know, but that's okay. It's just incredible I get to do this at all. Any of it.