A Meta Blog Post
Is it just me, or have our words gone into hibernation? A friend intends to write a poem and gives up when he realizes he just doesn’t have the words. Another has the desire to pray, but wishes for modern liturgies and pre-scripted prayers because, sometimes, the words just don’t come!
Likewise, only 30% of my latest blog post were my own words (2469/3616 words were part of direct quotes). Even in my parallel journaling life, where I can usually fill several pages at a time with no trouble (other than hand cramps), my most recent entries are as close as I can imagine to what brain farts would look like on paper. I’ve resorted to copying passages of text verbatim, perchance to channel the energy of others at their best while I am at my worst.
Still, I’m determined to write a post this month because I’m anal about have at least one post per month due to WordPress’ arbitrary categorization by month on the sidebar somewhere over there –>. That said, in this post, I thought I’d redirect you to some of my better days. Coincidentally, this is the sort of thing that bloggers tend to do at the end of the calendar year anyway. Yay me.
(1) A walk through the valley of shadow of death and back again, November 2017
A story of a failed post-conference hike in Germany. I loved telling this story and I tried to write this they way I would have told it in person (but with the luxury of adding pictures!). I was really proud of this post when I wrote it, but now even I am missing my own punchlines.
(2) The Scandinavian Berry Quartet, March 2018
My tribute to Scandinavian wild berries. This was really fun to write, and possibly one of the more enjoyable posts to read. Although blogging about my favourite hikes with labelled maps and all is a great way to remember them, I don’t expect others would enjoy or even be willing to follow them. I still haven’t decided what proportion of this blog is written for my own documentation, and what proportion is written with a non-debbie reader in mind.
(3) Book Report: The Art of Loving, April 2018
This was an Easter reflection that literally took the whole long weekend to write. I had several books opened, marked, and scattered across the dining table. My perplexed parents wondered what work I could possibly still be doing after graduating. Warning: Nerd level is high. And probably not in a cool way.
(4) debbie dumpster dive!, May 2018
Are you down in the dumps? Well, the world is down in the dumps too. And dumpster diving is the best way to capitalize on such a crappy situation. I’d been coming up with verbal-nuggets for this months before I got around to writing it, so I think this post has the most personality.
(5) 3 days in Iceland, July 2018
A photo journal and reflections following a layover in Iceland. We do stupid things and live to tell the tale. I think I prefer this method of blogging about travels because the travel details are clearly separated from the travel reflections. People who care about the travel details can click into the pictures for descriptions, but the entire post isn’t diluted by these details.
(6) Field Notes from this Season of Vegetable Growing, August 2018
This post probably sums up my state of mind this year. It’s a follow-up to Notes from this Season of Human Becoming. Reading both, I see an existential crisis being worked out in almost-real-time…
Behind the scenes: Books, marked for potential quoting. Do I need better hobbies?
Blogging Lesson #1: Travelling gave me tons to write about. But I am deeply conflicted about this. We Millennials love being #zero-waste #minimalists and consider ourselves eco-friendly for it. But as long as it’s in vogue to save for “experience consumption” over material consumption (and as long as cheap flight tickets don’t factor in the cost of externalities) we’ll continue to fly to the ends of the earth–to its detriment–for shits, giggles, and Instagram posts. Or business. (I can’t decide which is more abhorrent right now lol). And yet I am prepared to fly to visit loved ones overseas… Yes, I will grieve and lament over the ills of globalization all the way there, but I must also celebrate that globalization is responsible for connecting me with all these amazing people; it’s a reality of competing values. This, too, I consider vanity.
Blogging Lesson #2: Luckily, having existential crises gave me almost as much blogging material as travelling did. So my working theory: as long as I’m not complacent, I’ll have something to say. Luckily, there’s much to look forward to next year which will, no doubt, give me more material to write about!
