Don’t Bother Reading This

I’m writing this because I promised my writing group I’d post on my blog today.

We all promised, actually. We’ll post every Thursday, we swore, or there will be…consequences. (We haven’t picked the consequences yet, but we’ve all agreed that they will be “Not Good.”)

I thought it was a great idea. (Probably because it was my idea .) Nothing like a little accountability, and a hard deadline to get some material on the page. It’s a method I’ve used many times, and it always works.

Except when it doesn’t.

I’ve been thinking about writing all week, as in “I think I’ll write tomorrow.” This morning I realized I didn’t have any tomorrows left, so I sat down to write.

That’s a lie.

What really happened was that I sat down to procrastinate. I read some old entries in my journal, did some online shopping, and looked at Facebook. I checked the weather forecast, and then stepped outside to confirm the information. I had a meaningful conversation with my dog about the importance of flossing. Next I entertained the idea of posting a picture of a sunrise accompanied with an inspirational quote I saw on a magnet at Dollar General, but ~~I’m pretty sure I couldn’t fool anyone with a move like that~~ I have too much respect for my readers.

THEN I started writing.

Unfortunately everything I wrote pretty much stunk.

So, if you’ve wasted your valuable time reading this, I’m sorry. Then again, I did tell you, right there in the title: Don’t Bother Reading This. If you failed to head my advice, you have only yourself to blame.

And yet…I am feeling magnanimous today, and so I won’t leave you completely dissatisfied: