The Second-Best Time to Plant a Tree

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is today.

I’m loathe to quote a “Chinese proverb,” so let’s just say this quote is from wisdom literature somewhere in the world.

My name is David “Rhoadey” Rhoades, and I’m a diarist.

I don’t address my diary as “Dear Diary,” but I do make it a daily practice, more or less, to record my day and reflect on it. It’s a healthy practice–personally, journaling has allowed me to keep my always-roaming mind focused and unburdened just in time for the workday.

When I’m not writing in my notebook, I’m a marketing writer by trade. None of my work bears my name, which is a shame since I’m proud of a good chunk of it.

Los Angeles writer and essayist David Rhoades. — About as good as you’re gonna get with me.

That means most of my work either never gets read or never bears my name (or both, the Internet being as bloated as it is with new content).

I’ve always intended to put my work in front of people eventually, but, well, it’s a lot of work to put together polished 1,200-word pieces on a regular basis when my job already demands between 3,000 and 4,500 words of me on the daily.

Which brings us here.

For the next year, I’m going to put out 365 blogs, no fail. One blog a day (or two on Saturdays, if I’m feeling frisky).

Why?

Well, reason #1 is obvious: if I want people to read my stuff, I have to put out stuff to read. Reason #2 is that I’ve never been consistent with posting anything (comics, essays, tweets, etc.) because ‘perfectionism’ always trips me up. I put the quotes there because the issue isn’t actually perfectionism– it’s just a more flattering way to say I’m insecure about what I put out there.

Reason #3 is that no other topic-based blog would allow me to write about everything I find interesting. The blog-a-day format releases me to write about it all.

So, I’m forcing myself to forgo endless hours of fruitless editing and fussing. I’ll write about anything that comes to mind, whether it’s a couple hundred words or a couple thousand. And I’ll post 365 times–until July 1, 2019.

Here’s to day 1!