usually i dont try or make an effort to post. right now i did make an effort to post but i couldnt really think of what to post about, so that seemed like a thing i could post about.
i think ive made this kind of post a few times before on other FI related sites. if im having a hard time figuring out what to post, then maybe i should re-read stuff that is relevant to that.
i did not try reading the list of recommended topics and thinking if i could write any of them before trying to write this post. it probably would have been good to read thru those and see if i could get inspiration.
i have been awake for over 16 hours and i do feel tired, maybe if i tried writing earlier i could have thought about something to write about. being tired i think adds difficulty to ~everything?
my goal for tomorrow is going to be: write something on the CF website within 6 hours of waking up. if i do that, i might be able to tell if the difficulty im currently having is from being tired or not.
I get this feeling sometimes too (like, wanting to be active ā posting and writing ā but not doing so). Here are some thoughts about things that could help, particularly about writing:
practicing writing: if you have energy but no inspiration, then you could try doing writing exercises. theyāre not the most exciting thing, but Iāve found I feel accomplished after doing some practice, even if it wasnāt really about something I was interested in. ofc, it helps you to write faster and easier, too.
noting down topics you have thoughts about and doing a bit of brainstorming: one thing I do occasionally, when I have an idea of something I want to write but donāt for some reason, is to make a new note (I have a program for this; ulysses is what Elliot uses on mac) with a decent title and brainstorm the things I want to say, that usually only takes a few minutes. Then, if sometime later I want to write something but arenāt inspired to write something particularly, I check the list Iāve made and work on one of those topics.
freewriting: it seems like you did this a bit with your OP, it can be helpful for some ppl.
journaling: even if itās private it can give you ideas about things to post. I find it helps (tho Iām somewhat inconsistent w/ it)
reading and discussing: if youāre reading stuff (esp nonfiction) then posting about it is worthwhile.
I find that writing earlier in the day is easier and better. Later on it takes more effort.
Hereās an idea that might help:
you have a problem that you identified: wanting to post stuff but not posting much.
you could treat this as a project. goals like: write regularly, write more, easier writing, and having lots of topic choices, they all have a fair amount of overlap. thatās good b/c it means you donāt need to be too specific about your goals to start with ā you could start doing something that benefits all those goals.
that project is something to think and write about.
that project also generates stuff to post, like if you try to write answers to lots of topics, then you could post those (mentioning stuff like time constraints if you had some) and ask for feedback/criticism.
IDK if that appeals to you, but it seems like something that might help.
Also, itās okay not to post all the time. I think itās good that you want to post more, though.
Maybe it would help to think about why you want to post more. Ask yourself what you hope to get out of posting. Then think about what kinds of posts might help you get what you want.
If you just wanna try chatting about whatever as posting āpracticeā you could make a thread about whatever topic in Other category (or also just chit chat here in this thread). Discourse is IMHO suitable for fast chatting type interactions. So you could try talking about novels or games or pie or whatever.
You donāt need to come up with topics of your own. You can look at other peopleās topics and reply to those. If you donāt think of something to say about it, you can ask a question and try to understand it more.
And you can also use other peopleās topics that arenāt on this forum. You can do the same thing with a blog post, YouTube video, etc. Say something about it or ask a question.
after looking up āwriting exercisesā and glancing at the search results, i dont feel interested by them.
i read the wikipedia article for free writing, i dont think i understand to well what it is. i think i do something kind of similar to it. i like the thing i do that i think is kind of similar to free writing.
so when you are inspired, you could like write down some topics and points you want to make about those topics, and then if your less energetic/inspired, you could start writing about the topics and points you wanted to make.
ok that seems like an interesting point about having multiple goals that have overlap with each other.
you could treat this as a project.
a week ago i thought that i could have the goal of writing atleast once every other day, but i didnt say that that was my goal and that i was going to commit to it.
i think: āOh i could have X as a goalā and believe that it is a good goal a lot more than i actually act on the goal i thought about.
i think about goals that are good, and then i believe they are good, but then i dont act on them. i had a goal at the end of my OP so i think that was good.
my goal from now on is going to be: write at least one thing on the CF website once every 2 days. i want to commit to this goal, this is a goal im gonna try to do.
im gonna make a post in the āOtherā category and update it every 2 days to say if i succeeded at the goal of posting once every 2 days.
I think you do something like that, too. Iād say that freewriting is basically where you start writing and just keep writing about stuff thatās on your mind; and importantly you donāt try to control it too much and prioritize continuing to write as opposed to prioritizing correctness, or conciseness, or grammar, or something else. In that sense, you seem a bit more focused than Iād expect from like full-on freewriting; which is okay, it makes sense to mix-and-match the bits that work for you and your goals.
Yup. Sometimes Iāll start doing that and just end up writing the post anyway. Other times the notes from before help me to get more energetic once I start writing the post out.
That sounds like a good plan to me. If you think you might get stuck and not be able to post something one day, hereās an easy background thing that might help: keep a little notebook where, throughout the day, you write down anything that you think was interesting or odd that you ran in to ā mb down the street, or in an MMO, or in a book you were reading, etc. Thatās just one thing that could help w/ this, there are lots of other things too. e.g., if you were interested in writing fiction you could write a short story about something and post that under like a ācreative writing feedbackā thread.
I think Elliotās suggestion of participating in other threads is good, too. (Thatās mostly what Iāve been doing.)