Blogging can be difficult. Trevin Wax says so and I’m inclined to agree. I have no end of ideas of which to write about, as the Apostle Paul might say, but what I want to do, I find I cannot do. In fact I have started no less than a dozen entries into my blog that I have not been able to complete. “When affection isn’t love”, “The mundane courage of life”, “The unpopular quotes of Jesus”, “Learning to play Jazz as a Christian”, “Less is more”, these and more are germs of ideas of which I have started to write a blog entry about, but failed for a considerable amount of reasons to finish….and post. Quite frankly, one of the reasons I don’t blog as much as I would like is time. Since I am no longer a vocational Pastor (which might eventually be it’s own blog post) I find the amount of time I have in which I’m rested enough and have time enough to write has been limited. Obviously there are lots of other excuses as well.
I find I have lots of ideas of things that interest me, and which I would be interested to share with others, but expanding on those ideas, and perhaps more often, expanding on the ideas in a way that would interest others is often difficult. I’m a bit of a perfectionist…Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle” could be my testimony as well, and I often don’t like how ideas develop as I write about them. Yet I continue to want to write as a blogger.
Why you ask? Because I love sharing and discussing ideas. I’m very curious by nature (hence the subtitle of the blog) and the exchange of ideas has always been a passion of mine. But exchanging ideas via a blog can be more difficult for me because it is in the exchange that my own thoughts develop. So it takes longer. Yet I think blogging is an important avenue in our modern society. Social media tends to develop short thoughts in order to fit into the character limits of the platforms and add in the often bitter environment of the comment sections and it seems to me to actually discourage the exchange of ideas. Blogs allow the complete thought to be formed without the intimidation of immediate comments. I like this idea.
The reality is then that as a writer I must continue on writing, even if it is hard. I will want to continue the exchange of ideas so I will blog.
The Eclectic Christian 
My advice: 1) Set a goal. I don’t know about you, but I love meeting goals. 2) Schedule in time on your calendar and hold yourself to it. I schedule 1 hour to write a post twice a week. 3) More and consistent is better than great. 4) Try to build your audience by posting on social media. If people don’t want to read it, they won’t. You’re not bothering them.
You might check this out: https://nickcady.org/2019/01/29/feed-the-goose-use-your-calendar/
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Thanks Nick, it is very helpful
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I also refine my thoughts through the conversation. It frustrates me in some ways because I usually have semi-formed beliefs or opinions that are derived mostly from intuition whereas I would prefer to have more firmly formed opinions made through logical analysis and rational thought. I find it difficult to sit still with a single idea and work through the ramifications of it; my mind wanders around and I end up thinking of nearly anything else but what I want.
I wonder if attempting to write my thoughts out would be a forcing function for me to complete the analysis myself–rather than through dialogue–or if I would also end up with half-finished works like you.
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Yeah, I do both. I think that is true of most writers. Some thoughts never do get fully developed, they often are dead ends or sometimes cul de sacs, which are better than dead ends I think. But sometimes I need to let an idea percolate a bit. Discussion though is by far the best way for me to develop ideas, which is why friends who enjoy thinking about these things with me are so valuable and why I gravitate towards them.
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