Did you know I pay to have this blog?

There were free options, but I chose to pay a fee to write content.

Why? Because it encourages me to write, and I wasn’t ready to let Shootin’ the Wit die. The blog began as a column in my newspaper days. One day a coworker opened my eyes to online “blogs.” It was a strange thing to consider at the time. The two of us set up our blogs on Areavoices – a Forum Communications Co. network comprising quite a few papers. That was about 15 years ago.

Long after I left the newspaper business, Areavoices morphed into something new, and I wasn’t part of that plan. However, I wanted to keep Shootin’ the Wit! All along, I’ve envisioned writing as often as I did initially, producing a blog per week – or maybe closer to daily, and eventually having a large, captive readership. I paid for it because I didn’t want advertising on my site and wanted more control. Go figure.  

But I haven’t exactly been laying rubber. Since then, I’ve written 10 blogs. I log in so infrequently that I need to look up my password when I head to my site. That’s 10 blogs since May 2018, an average of 2.5 blogs per year. I pay about $167.72 per year, so that’s about $67.08 per blog. And in case you’re wondering, I pull in $0.00 in income from writing the blog (so far). With this post, this will change to 11 posts, 2.75 per year, $60.90 per blog. Math isn’t one of my strengths, so these numbers are hazy. What we can be certain of is my ROI is in the tank unless we consider my enjoyment of it. And I do enjoy it.

So what’s my problem? Why the declining putter?

Between wanting to write a children’s book, an adult book, producing content for my photography site and wanting to add to this blog, I freeze. I want to write, but when I sit down, my lists are overbearing. There’s too much, a million directions, so instead of starting in, I go nowhere. Plus, checking Instagram to see other people’s content is not necessarily any more interesting, but it’s definitely easier.

Sound familiar?

Ultimately, I want to stick with writing, but the blog has become a little intimidating.

Here’s why:

1. The sea of internet trolls are mean and, unfortunately, not shy. I’ve made a habit of doom scrolling comments in the past 2.5 years and am alarmed at the output of wicked online. It makes it challenging to share thoughts for fear of striking a nerve of someone I don’t even know.
2. Perfectionism. I’m a fan of Jon Acuff. In his book “Finish,” he points out the damaging aspects of perfectionism, and there are plenty! Mainly, it majorly stifles a creative mind, magnifying your mistakes and minimizing progress. I am a perfectionist, so for example, I tell myself if I can’t produce a perfect blog daily, then why even try doing one a week? Or one per month? Or anything for that matter. Case closed.
3. The blog name pins me into a corner a bit. If I’ve learned anything from blog writing, its that a writer should pick a topic and stick to it. Cooking. Running. Health. Travel. However, I’m far more sporadic, so picking a focus doesn’t feel feasible. I want to do it ALL. So, ideally, I have freedom to share wood project advice one day, pour out over a mental health issue next, post photos of a recent adventure followed up by writing out a funny perspective. Here’s where the perfectionist says “I’m not doing it right, so I better not do it” but I’m going to press forward anyway and let go of that pressure I’m putting on myself.

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“Perfectionism magnifies your mistakes and minimizes your progress.” 

-Jon Acuff

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I’m clearly not in the blog writing business for money… yet, but I want to focus on making writing a habit. So (and hopefully this is good news for you!) TODAY marks the day where I put aside the judgement I fear and begin parting ways with perfectionism. My topic ideas and posts might not be perfect, riveting, consistent or perfectly timed, but as we’ve learned, life is ultimately extremely messy and that’s usually where the joy comes in.

So, I hope you find future weeks of Shootin’ refreshing.  I’m going to write on topics I’ve had on my list for quite a while, in my same tone and tune, I’ll just push myself to share my perspective more frequently – and less perfectly – on whichever topic feels right that day. And, I’m confident you’ll be able to relate to it, learn from it or at least be entertained by it.

Thanks for following!

-Laura