My Biggest Blogging Problem

I love writing. I love blogging. But I don’t love transcribing. So I have no problem writing posts by hand, but I struggle to type them all up.

I try to write a post every day. Problem is I don’t type everything in a timely manner.

I could switch between writing and transcribing. So I write a post one day and transcribe the next.

I’m behind and unsure how to catch up. I could spend the time writing on typing up the old posts I’ve written. Although I think I’d miss writing them.

Or I can just continue writing every day and transcribing when I have extra time. By the time I get around to publishing a post, sometimes the subject isn’t that relevant anymore.

I’ve thought about trying to write posts that aren’t time sensitive. So I wouldn’t write about a holiday or an event.

In a similar vein, I might attempt to draft posts I could publish at any time during the year.

I have the same problem with my creative writing. There are tons of handwritten poems and stories in multiple notebooks. None of which I’ve transcribed.

On one hand, I could eliminate handwriting to save time. I can jump straight to typing. Too bad I love writing by hand.

Do you handwrite and then transcribe? Do you type straight away?

My Problem With Peer And Self Review

Let me start by saying I love one and hate the other. Care to hazard a guess?

In high school, I hated peer review sessions. Who doesn’t jump with joy at exchanging work with classmates and giving feedback for improvement?

I didn’t get a lot of helpful or useful comments from others. People tossed my essay back and told me it was perfect. I fumed inside because I knew my first draft was not even close to perfection. Imagine a world where first drafts were great.

I almost always came out of peer review workshops feeling a bit frustrated. OK, a lot.

Even though I tried my best to give constructive criticism, some people didn’t reciprocate. I don’t blame them. More than any other institution, I feel like in high school people are at a completely different level on their journey. Don’t get me started with teenage maturity.

To be fair, editing is hard. Giving feedback isn’t a walk in the park. But I guess what bothered me the most was the people who didn’t take it seriously. I can picture fourteen year old me making comments and suggestions while everyone else around me talked about whatever high schoolers talk about. I grew up fast.

Obviously, the more I edit other people’s work, the better I am at reviewing my own work. That said, I can’t look at my writing the same way someone else can. Still, I should charge a premium anytime someone asks me for feedback.

I’ve never given much thought as to what I think about when editing my own work.

I care about consistency and clarity whenever I’m critiquing. I also love brevity as much as the best blog reader. Wordiness will likely be the death of me.

Ever since I’ve learned about parallel structure, I’m careful around lists. This ties in with consistency to an extent. If you have two verbs in your list, I don’t want to see a noun phrase at the end of it. That’s guaranteed to drive me crazy.

Shout out to all the writers who have amazing flow. I aspire to write like you. Because I never outline, my first drafts are a hot mess.

Surprise, I’m such a stickler for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Sometimes the small details make the biggest difference. But I like rule breakers within reason. I’m one myself. Tough to get around not doing things by the book in academia though.

Writing A Baseball Story

What am I currently working on in April, also known to me as Camp NaNoWriMo?

I’m writing a baseball story. 

My plan is to stick with this idea for the entirety of Camp. As a writer, one problem I have is finishing what I start. The bigger the undertaking, the greater the likelihood I abandon the endeavour partway through. So I’ve committed to working on one idea until April 30th. I want to complete a longer project for once.

It’s so much more than a baseball story, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m calling my current work in progress that. At least until I come up with something better.

Even though I don’t have a daily word count goal, I am trying to fill up pages in a notebook.

Also, I’d be content with writing every day. But I’m happy to report I’m writing more than I usually do.

We’re five days in, and I haven’t given up on this story idea. I haven’t even thought about giving up on it. I’m taking that as a good sign.

Ranting About Grades

I should stop checking my grades. I did this for a couple of months last year because I hated how I felt after I checked. It usually led to disappointment or frustration. To be honest, a combination of both sounds about right. 

I feel like I can never be satisfied with my grades. No matter how “good” they are.

Admittedly they aren’t great this year. This semester especially. But even when I do well by someone else’s standards, I don’t feel satisfied. Because I’m meeting (or not meeting) other people’s expectations rather than my own. I’m writing for someone else who isn’t myself. And I’ve found having to do the very thing you love most for a grade is messed up in a way.

Let me be the first to tell you I often get too caught up with the creative process and the words themselves that I neglect everything else. The assignment instructions. My argument and evidence. I could go on.

Also, I hate the idea of someone five years older than me deciding my entire grade. Something there doesn’t sit well with me. Actually many things. It’s not my main problem with grades though.

It’s feeling like a number or percentage defines me. As if one grade defines my value or worth. Since when did I care for numbers? I’m a writer after all.

The Problem With Reading Blogs

When your favorite bloggers don’t post as frequently as you like. Then you’re stuck waiting and waiting and waiting until they do.

I’ll take this problem any day of the week though. 

But if you are a blogger, please publish something so I can procrastinate posting.

Thanks in advance! 

My Productivity Problem

You know what my problem is?

I can’t bring myself to work on the most difficult task first.

It does wonders for my productivity when I spend all my time doing the tiny things. And then I don’t get anything important done.

I have yet to find a solution that works for me. Or I’m just lazy. It’s definitely the latter. 

Summer Problems

Because as much as I like longer days and less school, summer has its own share of problems.

• Bug bites. I’ve been lucky. I don’t have any yet, but when I spend even a minute outdoors, I spend it swatting away mosquitoes.
• Buzz buzz. I hate the word almost as much as I hate the sound. Bees buzzing in my ear? No, thank you. 
• Poor eyesight. I think my eyesight gets worse in the summer. I don’t have school stopping me from writing and pounding out 2,000 words in one sitting. Two hours in front of a screen is not wise.
• Public places. I’m an introvert. I don’t like sharing air with a thousand other people. I prefer to stay home.

Summer is great when you stay at home, lock every door/window, seal every crevice to the outside world, sleep for hours, and avoid going anywhere that is too small for two thousand human beings.

I’m kidding. Enjoy your summer, do as you please. Keep writing. And reading. Don’t stop blogging either.

6 Writer Problems

Let’s face facts: Writers have problems.

Here are some writer problems that are already published on my Tumblr blog, but some of them haven’t gone live yet.

I think long ago I said I wouldn’t duplicate content on Tumblr and WordPress. Well, I lied.