Eleven and one months of daily musings

It’s the end of the month. I have now mused almost daily for eleven consecutive months, with one additional month thrown in to the mix. No, that’s not a year of musings, since they are not consecutive, but it’s a lot. I’ve also reached four hundred total musings today [1]. Since it’s the end of the month, it’s time to step back and reflect on what I’ve learned from musing this month.

I’ve become comfortable saying I’d rather sleep than muse. I may have become too comfortable saying that. It is important that I muse fairly regularly [2]. At the same time, it is likely a positive step that I am prioritizing sleep [3].

What have I written about this month? I wrote a few musings on music and mix tapes. That series gave me the added benefit of an excuse to look for and play with my musing. I expect to continue those musings over the next few months, at least when things settle down. I found it useful to put the musical musings in multiple modes. The What do you listen to? series lets me reflect more broadly on how I developed my tastes. The mix tapes (more or less) series lets me demonstrate some of those tastes and gives me things to share with my kids.

But another set of musings demonstrate why I’m probably not going to get much musing done about music within the next month. I have returned to the nibbled to death by ducks series as well as other related issues in the overcommitment series. I’ll likely continue on that series, although I’m starting to find that writing about all of my overcommitment increases the time it takes to handle that overcommitment.

At some point, I should restart the CSC 282 series which I never finished. But that won’t be any time in the near future. Course writing time needs to be given to the new CSC 151 or to my other courses. I’d also like to reboot the Grinnellians you should know (or know about) series [4]. However, those musings are among the most difficult for me to write.

While I don’t think my writing has changed much this month, I did learn a bit about myself as writer. When challenged to quickly write a news story about the code camps, I came up with what many tell me is a very nice article. So it’s good to know that I can write well and quickly [5]. Maybe I’ll find that the profiles are a bit easier this time. We shall see.

As the previous paragraphs suggest, I assume that I will continue to muse daily, or almost daily. In addition to the series described therein, I have an ever-increasing list of other topics to write about. However, given my need for rest, I expect that I will focus on shorter essays.

Which reminds me … I need rest. I’m done [6].

[1] How do I get to four hundred musings in about twelve non-consecutive months, given that there are only three hundred sixty five and a fraction days per year? There are days in which I write a post more than one musing.

[2] Why is it important to muse regularly? Mostly because I know that I’ll lose the habit if I don’t.

[3] I should probably prioritize sleep more.

[4] I’ve posted one today, but that one is clearly a one-off.

[5] Or, as I’m fond of saying, i can write workmanlike prose well and quickly.

[6] with this musing.

Version 1.0 of 2017-07-31.