On Writing Less

I published less number of posts in 2023 (183) than in 2022 (346). Why did I write almost 50% fewer posts?

I gave up on the system that worked for me earlier. I didn’t stick to any for long. I forced myself to write daily. But then I also let myself slack for a day. Before I knew it, I was missing repeatedly. I wrote daily. Then I didn’t for months.

Does it matter that I wrote fewer posts? What if I wrote longer posts? Isn’t more number of words better? Shouldn’t I find out if I did?

It is, and it isn’t. My love for long-form writing isn’t hidden. I enjoy longer posts more. But if they come at the cost of not writing for a long stretch, I am not okay with that. I don’t write research-heavy essays. I don’t write in structured form. Writing regularly helps me distil my thoughts. I work a long post while I write, publish and discuss a thought through multiple micro-posts.

A downside is my tendency to publish micro-posts only as they are effortless. Even with these, I hold myself back as I do not want to post too many posts in a day. I realised this in 2023, and I reduced publishing micro-posts. And eventually, I stopped publishing any posts. I overthink, admitted.

I won’t vacillate between these two extremes any more. There has to be a middle ground. I am okay with writing less but want to do it regularly. Give thoughts a chance to churn to generate the best ideas.

Extraordinary results are a matter of repeating ordinary actions over a long period of time. Start with ordinary.

This quote from this week’s issue of Mark Manson’s newsletter came timely as I was already contemplating this in the context of my #writing. So. in that context, here’s my plan of action for my writing in 2024.

• Write less in each sitting. Publish more posts.
• No number of posts in a day is too many.
• Miss a day, sure. But not two.
• Any words are acceptable for a post. Even one. Write and publish that.

I would love to look back at my writing journey towards the end of 2024 and see at least 366 posts published.