I’m not very good at blogging.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy it. It’s not that I don’t think I’m a decent writer. It’s not even that I don’t think I have something valuable to say. Simply put, it’s that I’m not very good at sitting down and writing a blog post.

There are several factors at work here. First of all, the nature of my work is such that I sit at a computer for most of my day with a lot of that time spent writing: emails, communications, curriculum, etc. Second, I am in school. As I write this, I have two five-page papers due at the end of the month. I’ve written almost one hundred pages of content so far this school year. When I have an idea for a blog post, I immediately think of all the other content that I should be generating for classes. Lastly, I tend to overdo it when it comes to my blog posts. I have a difficult time being brief, outlining my primary points, and sticking to a simple model. Because I’m a teacher, I often fall into the trap of trying to say everything there is to say about a particular subject instead of doing a cursory overview. I want people to think deeply, but that limits my ability to write a blog post because each one turns into a tome.

The other day I had an idea. What if, instead of writing every blog as an exhaustive treatment of a subject, I simply forced myself to jot down my initial thoughts regarding a topic? The idea hit me to try to limit myself to seven brief thoughts. That seems doable. Seven is enough to allow me to approach the subject from a number of angles, but not so many that I turn it into a treatise. It’s challenging for me and hopefully beneficial for you.

I already have several Seven Thoughts topics drafted with the first coming out tomorrow: Seven Thoughts: Treyvon Martin and Racism (I know, start with an easy one, right?) I’m hoping that this new approach will help me feel inspired to blog more and that each post forces me to think creatively about how to quickly shape my thoughts into something coherent. If you have any suggestions for topics, I’d love to hear them too.