Hey everyone. I'm @lemony-cricket, and that's the last time I'm going to start a post like that. Probably. Unless I feel like it.
Time to change things up a bit
I've been getting in my own way of writing here. I love to write! I always have. So why, why have I let it become such a chore? I think it's just because I am so obsessive. I won't use the term OCD as I believe it should be reserved either for kickass Steemian curation projects, or for those with a serious and expert diagnosis of a debilitating mental condition, which I don't believe I have. The truth is: I am just way too worried about what I'm writing.
I'm not going to completely change my style. What I am going to stop doing though, is worrying so much about following some imaginary rules I made up for myself. No longer will I worry so much about:
- Putting my name at the start of every article.
- Having a picture directly after the opening statement.
- Bolding the first thought of each new paragraph.
- Getting the headers just right and trying desperately to avoid line breaks inside of them.
- Obsessing over where to put my horizontal rules.
- Making sure there's always a nice little ending with a lemon emoji.
- Reading the "finished" post over and over again for 2 hours obsessively to make sure it's the best it can possibly be.
- Obsessing over visual arrangement, only to have it not make a difference on other frontends and my WordPress blog.
- Including every possible example in a list of imaginary rules I made up for my posts which I am now abandoning.
New priorities
Most of you probably know by now that I am a software developer, and maybe you also know that I love it so much I do it at home too. I've been focusing a bit more on that lately than engagement on the Steem blockchain, but I see no reason why the two can't coexist. I just have to make my priorities clear:I can't be spending four to five hours on every post when I have code to write.
And as much as I love you all and this platform, and as active as I may be in chats, I can't be going thirty-three days without a single post on my main blog and still call myself a Steemian... and I want to call myself a Steemian. I am more proud to be a Steemian than I have ever been proud to be anything.
I will still make those awesome, perfectly-formatted posts that I'm so proud of sometimes... particularly when I decide to pick up the second part of my cryptography series. But for now... it's time to bite the bullet, check over this post exactly once for obvious errors... and post.
Sorry, no lemon emoji this time. It's for my own good.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress.
I think its been a few days to call in a "wtf lem." Must be something epic you are working on.
Good for you!
You can also try anticlimax endings.
Or half posts where you cut the word that is in the half way of your post, only to treat your OCD which we shall not call OCD.
And also you might be intere
I was checking my replies on SteemWorld and thought your comment was just longer than this. You got me :D
Pledge and restriction; the key to strengthening Nen techniques and developing your artistry. I for one, am impressed.
I had to do some research to understand this comment, but now that I do, I almost feel bad about the decision I've made. Almost.
As nice as I think my articles looked and as proud as I was of them while following those rules, it has impacted my ability to interact with the platform; worst of all, I was forgetting the most important part of Steem: having fun.
Spontaneous posts are better without all the planning and shit that we incorporate.
I think there's a place for both. I don't think the majority of my posts will suddenly become very spontaneous, but they will certainly become less time-consuming. Also, I'll still make some time for the more formal ones. I'm just going to stop treating every post like it's a big deal.
Most people aspire to raise the bar. Call it selfish, but today, I'm making the decision to lower mine, or at least stop putting so many unnecessary hurdles on the runway. It's still at a respectable position. This is not becoming a shitposting account. Mostly, I am just done obsessing over my own personal view of "perfection" for hours. I've got more important stuff to do. :)
You just got find the daily content that you put out a few times a week and then slowly work on that one occasional every couple of weeks content you put a little more effort into.
I have stuff that could take me weeks before I'm able to publish anything if not even longer. My blog would be a bigger ghost town then it is now if I did that.
It's funny you mention that. I am truly and pleasantly surprised that anyone bothered to show up in my comments today. For someone who's been AWOL over a month and does next to no direct promotion, I've got a good audience here today. Thank you.
Glad to see you back on a posting route! :)
Looking forward to more awesome posts from that kick-ass serial. And another thing - yep, checking it once is just fine and lemony pick even tho we "might" miss it is still not essential.
Keep rocking yellowy monster :)
Thank you for your kind words, space-bro. I stopped that one right before it was about to get good. I just lost my motivation. I now know that you are actively looking forward to the next installment, which makes me feel happy but also sort of sad at the same time, since you are the only one I know. :(
I can't promise it's coming soon, but it is coming. Someday.
After reading your list, I'm not sure if it's possible to say you don't have some form of obsessive compulsive disorder...
Meh. If everyone who thought they had OCD had OCD for a day, the world would be vastly more enlightened about the distinction. People with real OCD have trouble participating in simple everyday life things.
Sometimes I look over things too long before I hit "send." I don't have OCD.
And also vastly cleaner hands and possibly not have shit residue on their phones, which is pretty damn disgusting.
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