Writing and Learning and Writing

In more than two years of writing this blog, I have learned a few things. Some of them were expected. Others, well---
 
1. You are rarely the best judge of your own work. The days when I really love what I've written aren't necessarily the days when I get lots of likes or comments. As in most parts of life, you can never be quite sure when you will affect people or effect change. You simply do the work and let the rest follow.
 
2. Desire is one thing, follow-through is the real thing. I began this blog with the idea of writing every day in the spirit of the everyday nature of soaps. I am, in some ways, so far away from the soaps right now that it wouldn't be unthinkable to stop writing every day. And yet, I persist, because, well, I persist.
 
3. The same situation rarely looks the same twice. Over two years, I have probably written about certain things more than once. But the fact that we've seen an event before doesn't mean we'll see it the same way again. Or that it will mean the same thing in our lives the second or third time around.
 
4. Sometimes it feels as though you are working for everyone else, and mostly, you are. But it is possible to carve out something that is really your own. You just have to know that things erode, and you have to be prepared to keep carving.
 
5. You may have heard, and believed, that time is money. But the time that you spend not making money can be pretty valuable too.
 
6. I didn't set out to write a blog for years on end. I just set out to write a blog. You don't always have to see the whole road ahead of you. You just have to take the first few steps. And then keep walking.
 
7. If you believe something can be done, sometimes you'll surprise yourself with your ability to do it.
 
8. Sometimes it takes staying up late or getting up early to accomplish what you want. Do one or the other, or both, but make sure to do some sleeping in between.
 
9. While it may seem like fun to count your accomplishments, it's actually more fun just to keep accomplishing.


10. Days and weeks and years pass quickly. Make sure to fill them with things that will make you happy and, at least sometimes, satisfied.
 
And the learning and the blogging continue...