The Struggle Is (Somewhat) Real

Writer Struggles to Write … But It's Not Writer's Block

When you've done something for 10 years, you would think you would be good at it. That's a lot of practice, after all. They say that practice makes perfect ...

I have been writing on this blog for more than 10 years. I have had my peaks and valleys as far as content. I have always tried to write about baseball, entertainment, and education. I suppose I could call baseball entertainment, but baseball is so important to me that I consider it separate from entertainment. Education has been my life for many years, so I often have thoughts about it that I like to share. Then I look at my output from last year and am disappointed. I notice that when I have natural breaks, I seem to write more … but I'm not writing on my blog enough.

BUT I AM NOT WRITING ON MY BLOG ENOUGH

• I can blame the demise of the Detroit Tigers. I can say that with the destruction of the organization, I determined that the team isn't worth writing about. In fact, with no free agent signings and very few trades in the off season, things have become boring for baseball. The cold stove has been a strange, new development for baseball. Some are saying it's collusion again (30 years later). 

• I could say that I haven't been going to much entertainment in the past few months, but that's only partially true. I went to Rick Springfield in December, after all. And I could have written about that event because it had a couple of points worth exploring: 1) one ticket to the show probably cost what all four of us who went together would have paid total at Castle Farms in 1982. I don't really know if he played Castle Farms in Charlevoix, Michigan, or not. But he might have. 2) He brought out a Make–a–Wish Foundation person to sing "Jessie's Girl" with him. That could have taken up some blog space. Beyond Rick Springfield, I saw Kid Rock in Detroit on multiple nights in September, but much of the fall was spent preparing, then being a part of our daughter Courtney's wedding to Tyler Stegman. Now, that was great entertainment and a mountain of fun! It was also tiring and didn't leave time to write. 

• Of course, I should be writing about education all the time. In fact, I do write for education every week, because, as the superintendent at Vanderbilt Area Schools, I write a weekly column for a local newspaper. That deadline every Monday afternoon seems to sneak up on me. I have borrowed from this very blog at times to put together my weekly column. I live education and certainly should be writing about it more often. I have been involved in a new systemic reform process for a couple of years now called The Blueprint. It's developed by the Mi Excel team at the State level. It has been incredible how it has helped us transform this little school from a struggling system to one that is on its feet and improving daily. 

I am going to make an effort to write more often. I'm sure that if anyone was following RWA, they probably have left as I haven't posted since December 5, 2017. It's halfway through January 2018 and finally here is some writing. It's not like I don't write because I journal regularly, I take notes frequently, and have been learning about Sketchnoting recently. I always have a pen in my hand or pocket and use Baron Fig notebooks to capture information.