Well,  I took the plunge and registered for the (free) Blogging U course “Finding Everyday Inspiration.”  My school year is over, so why not take a class myself (I’m also auditing a class in ARC GIS to prep for my digital history class this fall).

Day One’s assignment:  answer the question, “why do I write?”

I did a 15 minute free write offline, and the key phrase that leaps out at me is, “I live for likes.”  This is probably why I spend more time on social media (see my Twitter feed below) then writing for this blog. I don’t need to write a lot! Instant gratification!

The longer material I do also is aimed at getting “likes” — i.e. admiration from colleagues, good karma for my own writing (in the case of book reviews), etc.  I hate getting negative reviews.  So, this may be why I find staring at a blank screen so paralyzing:  the internal editor kicks in almost immediately.

I supposed the thing to do is to focus on writing that I like, rather than aiming to get likes, right?  Find something I want to write, not something I have to write.

Whew!  That wasn’t so bad.  I may even do my “assignments” over Memorial Day weekend!