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+---
+title: >-
+    New Year's Resolution Vibe Check
+description: >-
+    The not-quite-halfway progress report.
+---
+
+It's been over five months since I started my New Year's resolution, where I
+committed to writing 52 blog posts by the end of the year. This week I'm on the
+first vacation I've been able to take since the pandemic started, and, for lack
+of anything else to really write about, am doing an almost-halfway checkup on
+the whole process.
+
+Almost immediately into the process I wished I'd set my sights a bit lower. One
+post a week is a pretty intense pace, it turns out. If I were to reset the
+parameters of the resolution I would probably halve the requirements, down to
+26 posts in the year. One concern would be that I would be more likely to forget
+to do the bi-weekly post, whereas with the current system it's coupled with my
+normal work rhythm and so stays more top of mind. But I think I'd have a much
+easier time (perhaps even twice as easy!), so it might balance out.
+
+My thought in the beginning was that I could write on Friday afternoons or
+Monday mornings as a bookend to working, but what's generally happened is that I
+write on weekends. During the week the energy to write something up just isn't
+there; writing posts is a kind of work all on its own, and I can only bring
+myself to do so much work everyday.
+
+Lately it's been particularly difficult to pump out the posts. Obviously a large
+component of this is that I quickly picked all the low hanging fruit that were
+on my mind when I started this resolution, but an unexpected culprit has also
+appeared: seasons. When I started the resolution it was still winter, and during
+the cold months it's a lot easier to stay inside and work on a computer. As the
+weather warms it's been harder to find time though, in between working on the
+garden and going out and doing things with friends.
+
+Figuring out what to write about is becoming more of a challenge as well
+(obviously, given the topic of this post). Ideally I'd like to post about things
+I'm _doing_, rather than just talking about some topic, and for the most part
+I've mostly kept to that. Constantly posting about ideas I have or opinions I
+hold isn't really contributing any real work, unless the ideas or opinions are
+really groundbreaking (they're not). If, on the other hand, I use the posts as a
+kind of background motivation to get up and do something useful, so I can write
+about what I did, then at least progress has been made on _something_.
+
+The catch there is that I've now added an additional "thing" to do every week,
+in addition to the weekly post, and, as previously covered, I just don't have
+the time and energy for that. So some posts (ahem) are pretty much fluff, and I
+barely have the energy for those! Yet another reason to wish I'd committed to 26
+in the year, I suppose.
+
+It hasn't been all added stress and strife though. Doing the posts _has_ caused
+me to work on side projects more, and even better quite a few people I know have
+given me really good feedback on what I've been doing, and some have even
+started getting involved. So, in the sense of being a way to inform others about
+the things I'm working on, the posts are a great success! And I've definitely
+been more consistent about working on side projects this year.
+
+I'll wrap this up and continue with my vacation. Summary: blog is more extra
+work than expected, it's maybe worth it, but it would be more worth it if I
+halved my pace. I'm not _going_ to halve my pace, because that's not how
+resolutions work. The end.
+