Blogpostathon 2019

My students asked me what I was giving up for Lent. As they talked about giving up chocolate, candy, sugar, and cursing, I told them I wasn't giving up anything for Lent.

Some of them gasped.

Like, does giving up social media and caffeine really making you a better person?

I mean, if giving up carbs helped reduce your carbon footprint and allowed for the ozone layer to reform and climate change to not be a thing, then, sure, I'd applaud your efforts. Don't eat that bread from Panera. Step back from that bowl of cereal.

Me? I'm still gonna drink coffee. I'll eat sugar and continue to RickRoll my carbs. I will curse when necessary, and I won't be giving up social media because it's my window out to the world to showcase whatever I want to share with you.

I'm not some weird artist hiding in the dark wilderness of a corner creating and writing, ready to bite anyone who comes near me. 

I'm just not mysterious like that. 

If you meet anyone who knows me...they'll tell you I'm pretty much an open book. An inexplicable person, I am not. Oh, there once was a time I thought I was an inscrutable enigma, but the contraption that allowed me to do so broke. I never got it repaired.

Instead, I like to share in my nonsense. 

It's contagious.

When it comes to the 40 days and 40 nights of this season, instead of depriving myself, I have tried to fill it with some kind of creative endeavour, to push myself. I'm a better person when I'm creating. When I started this blogpostathon five years ago, however, it was all about the writing. Post, post, post, and post some more. Using words.

So far, I have only been successful...once.

The other times, it was too much. The anvil of it all was too heavy, and while I tried to be Atlas with that creative stress on my shoulders, I crumbled. 

I was a cocky Icarus. I flew too high to the sun of it all and my wings melted.

But, something's different this year.

It's not just about the writing anymore. 

And until this is a national movement with sponsors and widely used hashtags on social media, join just me these next 40 days and 40 nights.

I'll try not to disappoint.