Just write, damn it!

Monday.

The overwhelm sets in—need to work on that poster, where are we with the guide, why hasn’t that client gotten back to me, need to get going on project X, what about Y…

There is a lot which threatens to dissolve away the memories of a fantastic weekend meeting all kinds of folks, getting out of my cave and seeing that there really are other people doing work like mine. People who’d like to know me. People I’d like to know. People with something valuable to give me, and to receive from me.

I don’t want that dissolved. Not yet.

I went to my first web conference this weekend. Denver WordCamp 2015 was engaging, enriching, inspiring. It was exhausting. It was a lot of fun. It brought out anxieties reminiscent of high school, and a similar camaraderie, as well. I made new friends and made connections I should have been making a long time ago, considering that I’ve been using WordPress on client projects as long as I have.

It’s gotten me a little bit amped.

It’s getting me to freaking WRITE something down, for heaven’s sake!

I almost never write because my internal critic IMMEDIATELY shows up, worrying about how whatever I write will look to a potential client. That critic often forgets that if I NEVER write—about my process, about successes and failures, about WHATEVER—then there’s nothing to give a client an impression of who I am, anyway. It’s not really doing me any favors.

I STILL probably won’t write that often. This is reminding me of my periodic posts in which I commit to writing things down more often.

All of the talks inspired me in different ways. But Patrick Rauland‘s advice sticks with me: Just write. Forget about design. Forget about SEO (okay I don’t pay too much attention to that anyway). Take time to write consistently. I am writing code all the time. I am writing email constantly. But I am not taking enough time with each project to write about it.

So. More writing, soon.