When I started this blog last year, I wasn’t sure what it would become, exactly.  I only knew that I wanted to start keeping tabs on the process of bringing Tyme (the series I’m writing) to publication.  I also wanted to write about what it’s like to make time for writing in a life that’s already full with family and a teaching career, because I think a lot of people can relate to trying to fit their writing into an already overstuffed life. 

Making a blog is easy.  It takes seconds.  Deciding what to put out into the world is considerably harder, because the Internet is permanent, and it’s important to approach it with clear boundaries in place.  My guiding rules are these:

Rule 1: I won’t post anything that I wouldn’t share with my students.

Rule 2: I won’t post anything about my son that I think he might later wish I hadn’t shared with the world.

Rule 3: I will post something every two weeks, no matter what.

These are good rules.

Rule 1 feels stifling sometimes, because I’m an adult, so there are many things that go through my mind – and through my life – that are inappropriate for middle schoolers.  I’d love to write about these things, but I feel uncomfortable doing it at this point, so I won’t.  (Side note for my students, here’s a good rule of thumb on the Internet: If you’re kind of uncomfortable posting something, or you think it has the potential to come back and haunt you, then DON’T POST IT.  People will FIND IT.  And it doesn’t matter if you think you’ve made your page private, or if it’s a Snapchat photo that goes away in a few seconds.  Screen caps of anything can be sent to anyone, making you vulnerable no matter what.  End rant.  For now.)

Rule 2 means that a huge slice of my life is off limits, but I know I’d be ticked off if my mother had kept a public diary about my potty habits and sundry childhood mistakes.

Rule 3, however, is an excellent rule with no downside, which is why I’M SO IRRITATED that I violated it.  Today’s post is a day late, because it’s been two weeks and one day since I last posted.  DANG IT.

I know, this isn’t such a big deal.  It’s one day, and there’s no real consequence.  But it bothers me.  It bothers me because this is the best I’ve ever done keeping up a blog regularly, and I like setting rules for myself that I am faithful to – it helps me to trust myself, to know that I can rely on myself to see things through.  Like most people, I’ve made myself plenty of promises to myself that I haven’t kept, but as I’ve plunged deeper into adulthood, I’ve made a point of improving in that area, because cultivating personal discipline is crucial.  Knowing that I’ll do what I say I’m going to do, even when nobody is making me do it (especially, in fact, when nobody is making me doing it) is key to both my productivity and my self esteem. 

So I’m pretty annoyed.

The truth is, though, that I did write a post several days ago.  It’s saved as a draft, and I’ll probably throw it out, because I’m not quite comfortable with it (see rule of thumb above).  I write lots of stuff for this blog that I delete before posting – or, sometimes, immediately after posting.  That’s okay.  We all tweeze our unfortunate posts and Tweets now and then, don’t we?  And boy, don’t we all wish we could unsend a couple of e-mails?  Yeah.

The other truth is that I’m STILL WAITING SO HARD TO TELL YOU GUYS SOMETHING AWESOME, BUT I CAN’T.  I have been instructed that it’s okay to be mysterious, and that’s it.  So this is me, being mysterious and saying that I have ten million posts I want to make, but they’re all verboten, at the moment, so you can expect to hear from me a lot more often in the near (PLEASE, LET IT BE THE NEAR) future.

In any case, barring coma or death, I will post again before the next fourteen days have gone.  This I swear by the stars! (Bonus points for anyone who knows what that line is from – no Google cheating allowed.)