Meta Post: Getting On Topic

If I made a New Year's resolution, it was to bring Competent Parent closer to its prior ratio of parenting posts to random posts.  I used to be very careful to not go off the topic of parenting, but then it was just so much fun that I couldn't help myself.  I don't promise not to post off-topic, but I am going to try to focus more on pumping out some parenting posts more regularly.  So the next two posts - that's all I can commit to right now - will focus on parenting like in the good old days.

Metapost on my Schedule

I'm pretty allergic to metaposts on blogs. The most prevalent (and embarrassing) species of metapost follows a long absence of posts and recommits to posting regularly:

"Sorry, I've been busy/traveling/trapped under something heavy. I'm back now, though, and I'll post every day for the rest of your life."

A post like that is typically followed by more silence from the blogger.

When I came back from my moving hiatus this summer, I decided two things.

1. Not to create that kind of promise.
2. To adopt a schedule for the first time since I started this blog about two years ago. If you haven't noticed, I've been posting a minimum of Wednesday, Friday and a Sunday Haiku if I have one. That's the schedule I'm attempting to stick to.

It's good to have a schedule. In a wonderful interview with Terri Gross in a special episode of Fresh Air, Jon Stewart recently said that we think of structure as quelling creativity, but actually creativity thrives within structure. He's only the most recent person I've heard praise structure's contribution to creativity. Hopefully, this schedule will drive me to more creativity.

Since I adopted the schedule, I have found that it helps, except when it doesn't. I've been posting more faithfully, which also means I've been thinking and observing more carefully. Last Wednesday, though, I really mailed it in because I wanted to keep the schedule. I was on a deadline at work and didn't have the time or juice to do much more than that. But then my mother-in-law (probably my most frequent commenter) mentioned that post when we talked that week. Mostly, she liked the photo, which is what the whole mailed-in thing was about.

Finally, at the behest of a professional colleague I admire, I'll be posting some of my jokey charts on Mondays when I have them. I hope you like those, too.

Finally, finally, I wouldn't put up this metapost without putting up a real post today, too, so it's below this one.