Forcing Inspiration

When I was in school, I used to finish my homework the day it was due.  I think I took homework home in grade school, but somewhere around junior high, I almost never did my homework at home.  This meant there were many days when I could be found working on my 4th period book report in 3rd period Algebra, and so forth

This method seemed to work well enough for me, since I was able to achieve A's and B's for my grades, and even made the honor roll.  However, there was always that stress associated with racing to get something done in the eleventh hour.  Waiting until the last minute seemed to make me focus better on whatever task I had to work on, but at a price.  To this day, I've been told that I sometimes come across as angry when in fact I'm just extremely focused on a task that has to get done right away.

As I got older, though, I wanted to get away from the stress of waiting until the last minute to finish (or even start) a project.  Yes, I had been able to make things work that way--and quite often, they turned out amazingly well--but I grew tired of being stressed out, and knowing that it could've been even better if I'd only taken more time. 

So when I first started writing my other blog, I set aside a certain day to write each week's post, allowing myself a few days for revisions.  There were weeks when things got in the way of revisions, and I would scramble the day before, or even an hour before I posted the blog, but I was always able to produce my blog every Friday.

Then, when I joined WWK, I learned that it was possible to schedule posts for days or even weeks in advance.  Don't ask me why I didn't learn that in my almost two years at my other blog, because I don't know the answer to that.  Chalk it up to not learning all the ins and outs of that program, and just focusing on the writing.  But, when I learned that here, I thought "WooHoo!"  Now I could write blogs in advance, have them all set up, and I wouldn't have to remember to go post at a certain time of the day.  I usually have a month's worth of blogs lined up here at WWK, and I'm working towards that at my other site.

Now all I have to remember is to go to each blog on the days they post, and respond to the comments that get left . . . which sometimes gets a little tricky, I have to admit.  The one downside to setting things up in advance is that it's not foremost in my thoughts anymore.  I've written it, and scheduled it, so my work seems done.

There are still times when I use the last-minute panic mode, to be honest.  Even if I have things all scheduled, every now and then I get a flash of inspiration for a blog that I just HAVE to write, and that would work better for this week's post.  So, I just brush off my panic-mode hat, and get to work.

This week’s post wasn’t like that, though.  ;o)