I’d always wanted to have a blog, but I never thought I’d be any good at it. That is still to be seen, of course. But I especially thought that I would be unable to maintain a regular upload schedule.

Oh, My Word! started out, for me, as somewhat of a New Year’s resolution for 2020. I decided that I wanted to force myself to write regularly and stick to deadlines. Which is significantly more difficult than I was expecting.

In fact, I doubt that I would be able to keep up a blog if I weren’t running this site with my blog partner, Olivia. If this were just for me, I likely would have abandoned the dream in February of last year.

But it’s because I made a promise to someone else that I knew I had to keep it up.

I’ve become rather good at breaking promises to myself. I might think that I’ll start eating better or spend more time outside, but if there isn’t some sort of oath behind that thought, it seldom sees success.

Of course, I don’t need to make an oath to someone else that I’m not going to abduct a random cat or break into an abandoned elementary school–those thoughts don’t cross my mind. The promises I break (to myself) are those that should be beneficial for me. They should offer some sort of self improvement.

So, I’ve started to tell other people my plans for the future. I map out when and how I want to accomplish something, and I make it a point to tell others to expect me to be successful. Even if it is something small, like operating a blog.

I’ve let myself down enough, I’ve become desensitized to it. But I want to prove to others that I can accomplish what I set my mind to, so I make promises to them to make these ambitions come to fruition.

Having a blog with another writer forces me (in a good way) to continue challenging myself to be more consistent, to be more tactful in my craft, to be more consistently tactful. This blog hasn’t shot off anywhere crazy, but I am grateful to the people who do read it and support us. Because you’re part of the reason I can still continue to write on here.

I’ve made a promise to you, the reader, that you will see something new every Wednesday. And, yes, there have been a couple of Wednesdays that we have taken time off due to tumultuous election cycles and holiday obligations (with Covid-19 in mind). But this blog has seen roughly 50 posts added to it within a year of its creation, and I couldn’t be more excited about that.

I couldn’t have realized just how challenging it would be to organize and produce content for a blog without having actually done it myself. It looks easy when you hear other people doing it, but it really is quite the opposite. My greatest struggle is writer’s block, and since this is a creative writing blog, it strikes quite frequently.

After one full year of bi-weekly posts under my belt, I have learned what works for me in this process, and what I can do to make it better for the year ahead. This site has taught me more about commitment to myself than many things before it. My ultimate goal is to reframe my intentions for writing in the coming year:

I want to write for me.

I don’t want the blog to feel like an obligation to someone else. I want to reconceptualize how I approach writing in general, and produce pieces that primarily serve me. Then, I can worry about everyone else. I’ve likely been holding myself back due to my current frame of mind, and I am excited to untether myself from those bindings.

Of course, this ties into my previous post about my perfectionism. I need to accept the imperfect blessings of writing something, and share it with the world, but not for anyone’s sake other than my own. This is easier said than done, but by putting this out into the digital void of 1s and 0s, I am hoping that I will maintain this goal.

I look forward to the coming year in blog posts. I hope to post more flash fiction pieces and encourage others to engage with me using the writing prompts that inspire my work. I will continue to post bi-weekly, as I have done for the last year, and work alongside the best blog partner ever.

Thank you for reading this, and for teaching me things about myself I never would have learned if it weren’t for you. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us. I’ll see you around again in 2 weeks!

I promise. 😉

.

Oh, My Word! Jacob would love to hear from you after reading this essay. Have you experienced something similar to what he mentions in this post? Do you have any new resolutions that you hope to accomplish this year?

Contact Jacob Individually Here – jtsammonbusiness@gmail.com

Oh, My Word! is a weekly updated blog featuring fiction, poetry, drama, and essays for the world. #OhMyWordWednesdays

Hit “Like” if you enjoyed the post, and support the blog by hitting “Subscribe!”