Random Thoughts on the Lack of a Plan

It’s Tuesday night as I write this, and I’m struggling with “what’s the topic for Wednesday?” Keeping a daily writing/posting schedule is a challenge if you don’t have a plan.

I’m working on a plan. I’m also thinking I’m going to develop a post jar. Kind of like the job jar that Lois kept for Hi.

Funny how I remember that. It’s been decades since I’ve even read that strip…or even any strip in an actual paper. But, I digress.

I had better plans for the evening. Youngest is gone to camp. Wife and older son were working. So I was going to come home, mow the back yard (if it didn’t storm), grab something for dinner and write.

I managed to come home, do a couple of chores, then was headed out to mow. But I couldn’t find, no make that still can’t find, the key to the storage shed. I know I saw it the other day and it wasn’t where it was supposed to be (which is hanging by the front door). Not there. Not on my desk. Not on my dresser.

At least not that I can find at this point. Tomorrow if I can’t find it, I’ll break out the bolt cutters, which I have sense enough to store in the garage and not the shed, and then I’ll replace the lock.

Yes, actually I did buy the bolt cutters for this very purpose. Well, that and to get the gym lock off of my luggage.

After I determined that there would be no mowing, i finished an editing project, then I set about finding dinner. Actually I found an open bottle of wine first.

Then I found that The Shawshank Redemption was on. I always take the opportunity to watch that. It was on IFC which apparently doesn’t have to show the edited for television version that you usually see on TBS.

Let’s just say that the uncut version is a lot more prison like. But it’s a great movie. One of the best movies ever made.

So, Andy and Red made it to Mexico…that’s not a spoiler, the movie is 20 years old, and the book it was based on Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption came out in 1982.

Anyway, the movie is over and I’m stuck with an empty blog post.

It makes no sense to work like this. Actually, it’s not working.

So, back to the job jar. Or a similar method.

Post beach week (mid-August) I hit the rehearsal schedule pretty hard. Keeping up with the blog posts and hopefully keeping up with the gym are not going to be easy with that schedule. I can’t wait to be inspired.

So, I’m developing a list of blog topics from which I can randomly pull and write for the day.

Truth is, on that schedule I’ll be writing several on the weekend and scheduling them to post throughout the week.

It’s either that or quit the day job. Let’s just not go there right now.

The point is, the most successful bloggers don’t just wing it. There’s a plan of when and what to post. A plan to stay on a regular schedule. A plan to focus on specific topics.

Then when it’s time to draw a post title, I’ll have a plan to work from.

Writing is hard. Writing well is harder.

Don’t get me wrong, I could have been writing all evening, but not necessarily anything that anyone would care to read.

Writing well takes planning, and focus, and editing.

I need to improve on all three of those. I’m good when a client calls and says “write this for me.” The challenge for the blog is for me to come up with daily brilliant material. No, the brilliance is not the challenge.

All of the marketing and blogging gurus tell you to have a plan. That’s the way to be successful at this thing.

I currently have a plan to have a plan.

Or at least a plan to have a job jar.

Random Thoughts on the Lack of a Plan

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