I've always wanted to publish one blog post each day of a week.
The problem: these days, I hate writing.
Okay, that's an exaggeration. But most of my writing projects get torpedoed by some combination of perfectionism, scope creep, and me getting bored — and when they don't get torpedoed, they usually take longer than I hoped. I know it's only human, but when it happens over and over, I find this demoralizing.
Still, I really love having written things, especially things that I'm proud of. And I'm always allured by the idea that I could write something quickly, which does happen on occasion.
And though I've been having trouble lately with self-imposed deadlines, I'm usually successful when I publicly announce them. So I've considered the simple solution: promising a blog post every day for a week, so I'd be forced to "just write."
...which maybe I'll do someday, but I've always rejected this idea previously. The main reason: I have other things I want to accomplish, and I'm worried I would spend too much of my productive time blogging. (The secondary reason: What if I publish something horrible that I'm embarrassed by?? I'm not immune to this worry; not anymore, at least.)
The Spoiler Effect in Projects
I realized something the other day, as I was scrolling through my Drafts folder. "Behind the Scenes: Self-Publishing the Puzzles for Progress Book" is the perfect example. The writing is up to my standards! It's got everything you'd want a behind-the-scenes post to have: details, tips, fun anecdotes about what creating the book was like. So why have I never published it?
Well, because it's not close to done. It's probably not even half done!
But still, suppose I only had two options:
Publish this post
Don't publish it
Option 1 seems better! Even if the post isn't "done," it's interesting (though more so if you're aware of the PfP book), and certainly better than nothing! The problem is that there are really three options:
Publish this post
Don't publish it
"Finish" the post, and then publish it
When I was deciding, Option 3 seemed so much better than Option 1! As I said, the post is not done. It doesn't even reach the most interesting part of the story.
But the truth is that the post would take hours to finish, I'd forgotten it even existed, and finishing it hardly seems like the best use of my time. As time has gone on, and my puzzle book has drifted further and further into the past, my revealed preference is clear: Option 2 beats Option 3.
So if Option 2 beats Option 3, and Option 3 beats Option 1, then surely Option 2 beats Option 1?
AAAAAAHHH!!! It's the spoiler effect, happening right now in my brain. Somehow, in my internal decision process, adding Option 3 has reversed my decision between Option 1 and Option 2. Not very rational of me, is it?
And this isn't my only project where the perfect has become the enemy of the good. So it got me thinking...
WIP WEEK
I'm excited to announce that I will be posting one blog post each evening of next week!
The twist: each post will be an "unfinished" work-in-progress — with commentary and edits from the present, to make it a good reading experience nevertheless.
Indeed, I've already identified seven projects that have entered "the vault" over the years. They vary in length and category, but they have something in common: whatever (sometimes lofty) standard for "done" I mentally assigned to the project, they're not there.
Still, I'm proud of the progress, and I think you'll find things to enjoy!
Here are twelve quotes from the upcoming posts, in no particular order, for speculation:
"I formatted the Puzzles for Progress book in Google Slides."
"In that case, my strong and unwavering opinion is that pineapple is a vegetable."
"I have not one but two_videos of ketchup cakes to link to—both were surprisingly non-terrible!"
"Ultimately, the matter was resolved, and they were married legally, but that didn't stop the Adams people from accusing the couple of bigamy. Impugning Jackson's intelligence, Adams also challenged him to a Spelling Bee."
"Then you would refer to the little guy as "fblthp azon," since "azon" is the Azorius pronoun — well, the nominative form."
"Instead, they nominated Governor Elbridge Gerry, much younger at 68."
"Instances of “you” in any of the songs should be treated as a description of the college."
"They're in base ten because, there being ten guilds, it seems like a logical number. Not because I'm a decimalist or anything like that."
"So what was the remaining ten-slash-ninety percent?"
"I feel like there's something uniquely cruel about a world where ambitious American high school seniors are essentially forced to spend so much time advertising themselves instead of spending their time doing fun things that contribute to the world."
"I should probably rewrite this. I'm well aware it's not super clear. Anyway! Welcome."
"maybe I shouldn't have counted this for WIP Week..."
"and somehow, against all odds, i’ve developed this folksy persona where i do a radical thing of trying to write in a comprehensible fun straight-talking yet nerd-chic way."
I hope these are enough for you to make some predictions...
Since I believe seven posts in a month exceeds Wix's free limit for subscriber email campaigns, I'll be sending out emails to subscribers from chromaticconflux@gmail.com. If you're not subscribed, and you want to be notified throughout WIP Week, why not subscribe! (Conversely, if you don't, and you're subscribed, then it might be a good time to unsubscribe.)
A Teaser for the First Day
I self-published a puzzle book using Google Slides, as a tenth grader, and I haven't done it again. The behind-the-scenes story of the behind-the-scenes story, is releasing Sunday at 6pm Pacific Time, right here on Chromatic Conflux!
Update: Links to All the Posts
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