It feels like I’m becoming addicted to the WordPress Daily Prompts. Nothing wrong with it. They offer up some terrific ideas. Like yesterday’s. “Goals”. When you 
started your blog, did you set any goals? Have you achieved them? Have they changed at all?
How could I not write about this topic?
Of course I set goals when I decided to start this blog. Well, ONE goal, to be precise. But it’s a WHOPPER! A goal is its whole reason for being.
My goal was to write every single day for a year. 365 days. Every twenty-four hours. Fifty-two weeks. Twelve months. An entire annum. Day in. Day out. Week days. Weekends. Holidays. Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. Rain or shine. In sickness and in health. Come hell or high water. Without fail. No days off for good behaviour. No excuses. No slacking off. No putting it off. No procrastinating. No forgetting. No pauses.
And just in case I lost sight of the what and the why and the where for (or you did), I named it “three hundred sixty-five”.
A constant reminder.
I did/do have a sub-goal, too. Whatever I’m writing about has to be interesting. I can’t cop out. I can’t simply post some drivel just so I can say I’ve posted every day. Definitely not. No easy way out for me.
Hasn’t always been easy, I’ll tell you. There are days I’ve woken up and an idea hasn’t popped into my head before I’ve even gotten out of bed. Or after, for that matter. There are days when I wonder if and when the light bulb will finally go off. There are days I’m not only dragging my ass, I’m dragging my brain. When every part of me is plum tuckered out. Weary. Zonked. Fizzled. Frazzled. No interest. No desire. No get up and go.
Yet, here we are. Day 290. Holy cow. Well I’ll be. Son of a bitch. Hell’s bells. Good golly, Miss Molly. Getta loada that. *%^# me!!
Two hundred and ninety days. The better part of ten months. Solid. In a row. One after the other. That’s each and every, baby!!
Yeah.
YEAH!
Just have 75 left. A little over two months. Yikes! Wowza! I’m pulling it off.
Guess I’ve answered the first question. YES, I set goals. Next …
Have I achieved them? You bet your ass I have. I’ve shown up here every day, WITH something to say. To share. To write about. And yes, I’m well aware, I’m not done yet. There’s more to come. But I think we should cut me some slack for the time I’ve already logged. Or blogged. After all, I’ve never given up.
Not even once.
One, last question. No, my goal hasn’t changed. Nor will it. It can’t. My goal IS my blog. My blog IS my goal. They are really one and the same. And as much as I may have just made it sound like it’s sometimes a drag, it isn’t. I love every minute. I love every minute I spend thinking of what I’ll write. I love every minute I spend writing what I write. I love hearing from you. And responding to you.
This blog is probably the best idea I’ve ever had. Uhhh, make that ONE of the best. At the very least. And by the way, just in case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a stubborn bitch who never gives up. Pig-headed. Bull-headed. Ornery. Always have been. Always will be. So there is NO way I’m missing a day.
N-O W-A-Y!! Jose.
You can bet on it. So there. See you tomorrow.
365 And Counting 
It’s great that you are achieving your goal. I’m not entirely sure what my goal originally was, beyond starting a blog, but it’s evolving and I seem to be setting more goals and that’s a good thing!
It IS a good thing. With other aspects of my life my goals evolve and change all the time, but not with this blog.
Good job, Fransi! And the writing prompts are working for you. I should save this post for when my motivation is flagging (or I’m exhausted like last night).
You have a very good reason to be exhausted. I say it over and over again. I don’t know how the two of you do it.
Well, it’s a good thing we have a long weekend this weekend!
No work, all play I hope???
You are so funny! But I intend to have some quality garden time. I saw some purple beans yesterday and there will be a lot to harvest.
Ok. If you say ‘sow’. Have fun whatever you do.
You have definitely been my inspiration. Hope you keep blogging as of day 366 🙂
Thanks. I will.
I like your use of “plum tuckered out.” 🙂 Way to go, Fransi, and thanks for being such a great inspiration!
Thanks! Coming from the Grammar Belle I will take that as a real compliment.
Everyday I get up I think today I will write. But I don’t. Maybe people just need to read my other 200 posts that they have never seen.
Wordpress is a funny thing… the readers aren’t very loyal once you stop writing. Even though I have hundreds of posts already there, and over half written before anyone knew I existed. Seriously, it seems as if we are only as good as our last post. In my very last post I’ve invited a few to come visit my archives. And my REAL readers who actually read what I invited them to do rather than just glancing and clicking LIKE have actually gone there and made wonderful comments and have said they were glad they took the time to find what they read… the thing is…authors are as good as their last book until they are discovered and then… I know that I personally have gone back into an author’s list and once discovering them, read everything I could!!! That’s not how it works here at wordpress. But I am grateful for the connections I have made here. The genuine ones… OUR little circle and until we are all on the top ten sellers list… we are all we’ve got!
Great Post! Thank you.
Thanks. Social media is all about being in the moment. So if we aren’t here, on WordPress, in the same moment a reader is they move on. That’s why I always caution my clients before we start a website, a blig or any other social media. It is a full time job. If you can’t sustain it, don’t start. It’s a lot of work.
I don’t know…. I can write a new post and get all my readers reading again. My point was that it is a mystery how to get them to go back to lets say your day 49. Ya know?? For instance say I start reading this blog at day 190. But you KNOW that somewhere in the 100 posts you wrote before that, there is a lot you’d like your followers to have seen.
If you can’t sustain it, don’t start??? Seriously. You really believe that?
I am in a place right now where I am working over time daily, I come home and am so tired… But I have taken breaks before and come back to my faithful readers and new ones. If I’d never started my blog or given myself permission to take a break I feel we’d all have missed out on some great connections. I write when I am inspired to. I feel I’d lose my writing branding if I just pushed out something every day cuz I said I would.
I am not suggsting you, or anyone else including me, just push something out because we said we would. I have earned my living as a writer and as a created and nurturer of brands for forty years. It’s not something I would ever, or have ever, done. Nor is it the kind of work I would ever accept fro. Anyone who ever worked for me.
Neither am I suggesting that it is a requirement for you, or anyone else, to write every day. I wanted the challenge. My choice. My decision.
What I am saying is, inertia can become our enemy. Ask the hundreds and hundreds of bloggers, both amateur, and professionals, who start blogging and after a few months lose interest. They write less and less frequently or stop entirely. It happens in companies as well. With both blogs and websites.
When we first start them we really don’t understand the work involved in maintaining them. It is ongoing, regular upkeep whether you write daily, weekly or monthly. And if you start out writing every week and you slow down to every two weeks and then every three weeks and then from time to time you will lose readers and followers. Same with websites. If you do not keep updating them, adding new information, refreshing them, visitors will stop visiting. And you will lose your Google Search rankings. For that matter you lose your Google Search rankings when you start reducing the frequency with which you blog, as well.
That is fact. Not my opinion. Call the folks at any ad agency and they will tell you the same thing.
As for encouraging people to go into your archives you can reference older posts in current ones and then link to them. And hopefully if you write stories people like enough and they become loyal followers they will want to read other posts you have written.
Hmmmm I don’t see a place to reply to your last response so I will click here. I was not intending to offend you. And I think you missed my point. I was just referencing your comment… “If you can’t sustain it, don’t start it.” I think we all come with our own level of expertise in the subject and I respect yours. It’s just a discussion. I was not trying to argue.
Have a great day!
You didn’t offend me. We have different opinions. You expressed yours. I expressed mine.
I so envy your discipline and I know it takes so much more than that. Finding inspiration and to write interesting, funny, poignant and important posts even when your not “feelin’ it”. You’ve done it all and it shows in each and every post. All 290 of them…so far. Congrats for having come this far. You are an inspiration to me.
Thanks. It does take discipline because there are days I know I am forcing myself to turn my computer on. The ideas are another story. And I say “thank you” out loud every time I have one. I think all my years in advertising is a big help. I have learned how to find inspiration.
“I have learned how to find inspiration”:…perhaps the makings of a future post!?…. just sayin’ 🙂
Hmmm, that’s an interesting idea. See, I just found inspiration 🙂
I’m so envious you can – and are – blogging every single day, I’m speechless….:) And I do look forward to reading your posts. You always have something interesting to say!
Thanks. It becomes a habit after a while. You get in a groove. Almost like you’re sleep walking.
You amaze me! Truly!
You are too kind!
and me too, this makes me laugh and amazes me that you are able to keep your chair to type, because they’re like the words of someone cheerleadering, raise that pom pom and shout Yeah for Fransi!
Yeah Fransi! Go girl!
lol! Thanks so much. Don’t put the pompoms away. I may run into a rough patch and find myself needing a cheerleader again.
That’s the day you put out a May Day call and we’ll all be there with our pom poms and good cheer!
Great! I will. Look for “pompoms” in the subject line of the email.:)
My goal evolved after I created the blog, because the first objective was to discover if one really could build this thing without the aid of any technical help (unlike those uninteractive, too complicated, website things). And its true. A blog really is a do-it-yourself tool!
However, that’s not enough of a goal in itself, and of course its goes without saying that a blog is a place to write, at whatever pace one decides and on whatever topic.
For me, I wanted to keep it separate from the fiction I write and for it not to feel like a chore (in fact I would go further and say I wanted it to feel like a freedom), so I chose to write about books I read, since it is an activity I do regularly enough to ensure I post on average once a week (but no deadlines for me!). And then I learned about Goodreads and suddenly I have a widget on my blog displaying that very same challenge, to read one book a week. I just love how one thing leads to another.
I could go on about all the other doors this blog has opened, but they were nothing to do with the goal, just a reminder that going forth and pursuing a goal can lead to the opening of many doors, not to mention great friendships and spiritual connections!
Bonne Continuation Fransi!
Thanks! Yes, I love the fact blogs are do-it-yourself as well. For me, it’s a real feat because I am technically challenged and can’t believe I can do this myself. It’s interesting how you picked books as the raison d’être for your blog. I love reading your reviews, so I’m glad you did. I’ve read a lot of books I might now otherwise. As for all the doors it’s opened, to me that means that somehow, this is what you were meant to do; and happily you opened the right door and decided to step through it. Which is another story 🙂