I once read about a writing program that suggested that you write every day for either a certain amount of time or a certain number of words. I forget how much but that’s not what was interesting about it. The part that I remembered was that if you didn’t write, then you have to sit down and write Why I Didn’t Write Today. If I recall, I never followed this advice but here it is, it’s Friday night and I haven’t written my post for the day. So, here we go.

Writing every day has changed a few things. First, I’m less precious about what I write. Even though this is a blog, I’ve never tried to write it like a blog. It’s not a web log of my activities. I try to write standalone essays. Last year I didn’t write many posts because I had such high standards for each piece. They had to be at least a thousand words. They had to be about something that I had thought about and collected ideas for for at least a few weeks. This brings me to the second thing. Now if I get an idea, I just write it. I’ve decided that I need to, I need to write something (clearly) and this idea – whatever it is – is as good as any. Third, I’m surprised how much I can write when I just let myself write and how some of my random ideas can resonate with people. I didn’t think anyone would care about Albums I Can Listen to From Start to Finish or On Watching Stuff Over and Over but I wrote them anyway and people responded to both.

Why didn’t I write today? I couldn’t think of anything. I looked through my notebooks and nothing stood out. I had a long week. I’m tired. And – as things will do when you are paying attention to them instead of writing – figure skating has become completely fascinating to me. (Adam Rippon just had a killer program. Nathan Chen was amazing. And I need to wrap this up so I can watch Yuzuru Hanyu, that dude is unreal.)

That’s why I didn’t write today but a resolution is a resolution and a post is a post.