I’ve made a list of blog post topics for the coming days: one way of leveraging the law of momentum over the law of inertia. When you’re out of the practice of blogging, it feels impossible to think up topics to write about: when you aren’t writing, it is natural to believe you have nothing to say. This is the law of inertia: it’s difficult to start doing something you haven’t already been doing.
But once you start doing something, it’s easier to continue: this is the law of momentum. The more you write, the more you think of things to write about. The quality or brilliance of your thoughts doesn’t change; you just adjust your expectations. Instead of waiting for an Obviously Brilliant thought to show up, you learn to embrace ideas that are Good Enough. Once you do that, other Good-Enoughs come flooding in.
During the month of November, I’m trying to blog something–a photo and at least a sentence–every day, even if that means posting from my phone with my thumbs. Instead of “saving” my blog for longer posts about deep thoughts, I want to return to the habit of posting more frequently. If you lower your expectations far enough–only a sentence, nothing sustained or brilliant–the law of momentum takes over: one sentence leads to another, and one idea invites its friends.
Now at occasional moments throughout the day, I think of random ideas for blog posts: nothing profound, just a phrase or idea that’s good enough to spur a sentence. And now that I have some seeds for sentences, I have the antidote to inertia: a place to start and a way to get rolling. Once you set one word after another, the next will follow, then the next and the next and the next.
Nov 8, 2021 at 11:16 am
Lorianne, the author James Clear (Atomic Habits) for years has written so much about this, aggregating from the writing of others and adding his own experience. I appreciate reading your post today–it comes at a good time. Thanks.
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Nov 8, 2021 at 8:22 pm
I’m glad this helped. It’s a lesson I’ve learned, forgotten, and re-learned many times.
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Nov 9, 2021 at 3:30 am
For what it’s worth, I think sometimes that I’ll revisit certain writers, not because of what they write (although that can be important), but because of how they write. I appreciate a certain flow and musicality, a certain wit or beauty or eloquence. If the thoughts are well and beautifully articulated, if the prose has some sort of verve or punch or depth, that can matter as much as, if not more than, the content of the thoughts. That’s why I’ll read pretty much anything by Mark Leyner or Stephen R. Donaldson or (gasp!) Camille Paglia, and that’s why I keep coming back to Hoarded Ordinaries. Putting words together is an art. Blog however you want; I’ll be there.
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Nov 9, 2021 at 5:41 am
This is exactly why I love to read the journals of writers like Virginia Woolf and May Sarton: regardless of how mundane the topic, the prose is sublime. Thank you for feeling (and saying) something similar about me.
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