A few of you might already know about this, but with two days left to go in this year, I wanted to share a goal that I set for myself with everybody who reads this blog.
In the final days of 2009, I tossed around ideas of what I wanted for The Dark of The Matinee in 2010. One concept that came to me was to push myself a little bit harder. My other passion is photography, and at the time, I was gearing up for a "365 Photos" project, where I'd take one photo a day every day through the year. (Sidebar: That project flamed out in late February)
So when considering blogging ideas, the 365 project felt like as good a starting point as any. Thus the bar was set:
Post at least once a day, every single day, for one year.
Now, I'll readily admit that the screencaps I put up on Saturdays for the "Today, I Feel Like This" feature feel like a bit of a cheat. However, sometimes it takes just as long to settle on one of those as it does write a post, and many times I have to get the movie from the shelf and go about creating the screengrab myself.
Ditto the "Everybody's Talkin" blogosphere round-up on Fridays. It takes quite a bit of time to peruse what many of y'all have been up to during any given week!
As for the rest, at a glance I can tell you that running to and fro around four different film festivals certainly makes for a good source of material. So if I do say so myself, I think the goal and the experiment was a success. It pushed me to get into a routine and a writing habit. It helped me become a better writer. It led me deeper into the community to read and interact with more and more blogs. Some days were tough - more than once I sat frustrated staring at a blinking cursor after midnight just begging for inspiration.
What I learned in those moments was the best advice I could pass on for anyone looking to try a similar experiment: If you're stumped, look around and ask other movie geeks for ideas. Those little, seemingly benign chats you have with them can often be expanded into a decent post!
And before you ask - no, Virginia...just because the year is over doesn't mean that I'll be slowing down any time soon.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Finish What Ya Started (Reflections on The 2010 Blogging Goal)
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16 comments:
Was an outstanding year on this blog, Mad! You know how I feel about your writing (and your blog in general for that matter) so I don't feel the need to expand anymore there. I will just say I could feel throughout just about every post you wrote this year a sense that you were really trying to push yourself. Not just in terms of your writing style, but in terms of the accessibility of your content. I would say bravo, and if you don't pick up at least a couple LAMMY's next year - I'll stage an outright strike :)
You - begging for inspiration? I cannot believe it. All that I can say is that you are a great writer who has quite a lot to share about films. Of course, I agree with Univarn that those LAMMYs are great incentive, but even without them your blog won't stop being awesome. Just look at the number of comments under each of your reviews or articles.
I just wrote and deleted a comment that sounded waaaay too ass-kissy. So I'll just say keep up the good work :)
Don't get too cocky there buddy...You still have 2 days left. B-)
@ Univarn... Thanks for the support home slice - I knew there was a reason i was eyeing you as the first two-time Matineecast guest.
@ Lesya... Yup, there have indeed been many a night where this little iron-man streak of mine was seriously threatened by writer's block. We'll see how long I can keep this up as I continue to burn through various general discussion topics.
I'm hoping I can keep it running at least until April.
@ Emma... Hah, probably a good thing that you don't inflate my ego. Thanks for reading!
@ Bob... the last two posts are all but locked. I can raise my arm with the finish line in sight.
PS - Bought our LAWRENCE tickets, see ya Sunday!
"...just because the year is over doesn't mean that I'll be slowing down any time soon."
Good! :D
The need to post but with nothing to write about has often hit me. Sometimes I've watched films just to have something to write about, which is the wrong way around. Frequent posting is hard, so I salute you.
I echo Univarn, what you've done in this blog is tremendous and you continue to be my inspiration as a movie blogger.
That is quite a goal Mad, not sure I can commit to daily posting. My goal is to watch more movies (duh!) and more small, independent ones to balance the mainstream stuff, and write more reviews.
Looking forward to more great things from you, my friend!
You are awesome.
yeah - indeed well done. Its also a testement to you that all the posts are such a high standard! and, don't forget, i know how long it takes to prep, record, edit (eugh!!) those podcasts! well done sir!
Simon
www.screeninsight.com
@ Yojimbo... Happy to oblige.
@ Chris... Not neccessarily. I have certain 'watch-to-post' ideas in my back pocket for when getting to a cinema gets difficult. The whole trick to it is the angle you take with the writing (I come up against this in my 1001 series constantly).
For me, the trick when watching-to-write is to refrain from a straightforward review.
@ Ruth... Not sure if I'll stick with it forever-and-ever-amen, but I wanted to see if I could do it even for a little while. After the failure of the photo project, it became an even bigger challenge.
Perhaps sometime next year you could try it for just one month. I remember hearing about how a lot of people liked the 31-Posts challenge that went around last summer.
@ Alex... I try.
@ Simon... Heh, don't tempt me sir. There have been many moments when I consider upping the podcast frequency to one-a-week. Something tells me I'd undo my entire universe if I ever attempted such antics. My hat is off to all of you folks who do that
No new year's resolution this time? ;) It's been a great year of blogging around here so keep up the good work Mad! I can definitely relate to spending so much time on picking a picture that it feels like I could written an entire post!
I'm useless at keeping up features. So ccount yourself lucky on that front...you kept the 'Today I feel Like This' and 'Everbody's Talkin' going a lot longer than I would have been able to. Anyway, your blog is awesome. Sure, something new would be great. But you just keeping up the reviews and other stuff is great also (this is sounding cheesy...)
Great work Hatter...
it's always great to look back and see where we reached with our goals. Last year I promised myself I'd read more, and I can honestly say I didn't get anywhere with it. I did discover audio books, but after about four of those I flailed and discontinued my audible membership - even though I did enjoy a few.
I think I'm going to take a page out of your book and start this upcoming year with a 'post everyday' goal for the year.
@ Castor... Actually, this year's quiet resolution is to keep tabs on how many movies I watch.
At the bar recently, I was somewhat shocked when a fellow blogger mentioned how many hundreds of films he'd watched over the year. He then pointed out that he probably wasn't that far ahead of me if I thought about all the dvd's I watch. So, in 2011 I'm gonna keep tabs. Might even turn it into a weekly note on the blog.
Thanks for your support man - you're one of those that really pushed me to try harder this year.
@ Stevee... Ah see, that's part of the trick - come up with a feature, keep it going, and your week gets that much shorter. As it stands, between trailers, 'everybody's talkin', and like this I only have four more posts to think up to fill a week...and that's before a review! If it's a week where I'm podcasting, I'm down to three. Give it a whirl - I promise you'll be surprised with how easy it gets.
@ Andrew... Thank-you sir, I'm rather proud. There was a time where I tried to get myself to read a book a week, but that didn't work out completely (though I did read 42 on the year that year). Then I started listening to podcasts and my reading during the commute took a plunge.
PS - Are you gonna send me an audio clip for the year-end podcast?
"So, in 2011 I'm gonna keep tabs."
You mean you don't keep a list of all the films you see during a year? I thought you were an inveterate listmaker like me?
I suppose it sounds geeky (and what's wrong with that anyway?), but I find it very helpful to keep track of what I've seen - whether it's making year end lists, jogging your memory for blog conversations, coming up with examples of specific movies, etc.
And how else would I then know how many films I've watched in a year so that you and Shannon can make fun of me?
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