First month over

Well, then: Here we are at the end of the first month of 2024. Sheesh, we hardly knew ye, and you scurry to oblivion. A new month looms—a leap month, no less—with all the opportunity that a 29 day month gives us to do—well, whatever it is we do. Or, don’t don’t do—no pressure!

This post is my 23 rd post for January, which, some may choose to say means I missed my targets for the month. Sure, yes, that’s fair, but: The last month I had more than 23 posts was the 27 I published in January 2019—back in the Before Times, when my life was sane and happy. I can’t and won’t compare this year to those happier times, and yet….

Compared to to After Times years, 2024 is starting well! The stats for the Januaries since 2019 tell the tale: In January, 2020, I published a staggering 9 posts. Okay, I shifted to Hamilton in that time, and my Internet wasn’t great. Then, in 2021 my output rose to an astounding 13 posts, and 2022 it rose astronomically to 18, and then 2023 to an absolutely astounding 19 posts!

I’m mocking my previous years to make a point, namely, that my blogging output has suffered for many years—ever since Nigel died, obviously. That means that achieving my old goal is, under the best of circumstances, a big ask. And yet I continue.

It’s more than fair to note, as, perhaps, some might, that I achieved this milestone, such as it is, because of my Fiji Trip 2024 posts. This is true, as far as it goes. However, it’s also likely that had I been in Hamilton all the time of that trip, I’d probably have published as many posts, and very possibly even more—you have NO idea how many posts are languishing somewhere between idea and first draft.

All of this is really beside the point: I’m long past the point where any measures of output equate to “success”. If I do or do not achieve the “one post per day” average is actually irrelevant for me—even though I do notice. These days, it’s merely about saying what I want to say, and by that measure this blog is still a runaway success.

Well, apart from the whole avoiding politics thing: I do kind of regret abandoning that entirely. Still, February is a leap month—that’s more time to help me fill my publishing non-goal goals. Or not. New months mean new realities.