After a month of blogging, I have to say that I’ve enjoyed the discipline of writing consistently. Discipline is the right word, because there are plenty of days when I don’t feel like writing. But I’ve found that it is a lot like working out, praying or practicing an instrument: motivating yourself to do it is the hardest part.
Setting parameters for myself (no more than 500 words per post), scheduling out time to write and planning future series has also helped immensely with the process.
I am currently working on a couple of series, which I will plan to begin posting this week. (My series tend to grow as I write them, but this is the basic framework I’m starting with.)
1. The Paleo Experiment
My wife and I just finished a 30 Day experiment with something called the Paleo diet. It’s pretty popular in the CrossFit community, and involves limiting your food to meat, vegetable, fruit and nuts. That means no processed food, no refined sugar, no grains, no dairy. In this series, I plan to share my experience trying to eat like a caveman for 30 days. Here’s the outline:
The Paleo Experiment (1): How to Eat Like a Caveman
The Paleo Experiment (2): Retraining the Appetite
The Paleo Experiment (3): Food or Fuel?
The Paleo Experiment (4): Takeaways and Tensions
2. Ministry and Family
Another series I am working on has to do with balancing ministry with family. Pastors are notoriously busy; one of the questions I am asked most frequently is how I structure my time, specifically as a husband and father of two children under 2. In this series, I am plan to share how my approach to balance has shifted as my family has grown. The road map:
Ministry and Family (1): First, Decide What is Important
Ministry and Family (2): Before Ben, Busyness
Ministry and Family (3): When Two Becomes a Three
Ministry and Family (4): When Double-Team Becomes Man-to-Man
So that’s what I’m working on.
Here’s my question for my readers: which series would you rather read first?
Both simultaneously. The Paleo seems more interesting to me (as I don’t have a family in the sense you do at this point in my life); however I think a deviation from the world of fitness for a bit would be kinda refreshing. (not saying its unwelcome, just something from a perspective outside fitness). That probably really doesn’t help much because I just gave reasons for why I want both instead of one over the other.
i would say the food one. Since you just got off that diet, might as well do it while it’s still fresh (no pun intended?)
Also, i know this is kinda biased, but it would be interesting to see reflections of you when you were in college/seminary/younger(?). How going to bible colleges affected you.
FAMILY! 😛 I miss you Baileys. Not to mention I love hearing your family stories; they are super hilarious, endearing, or just plain cute. They always make me smile. Also, it will help me see how you manage to be good at everything. Maybe I can learn to time manage from you through your blog! 😀 Although eating like a caveman seems interesting too.
although i’d like to hear about the paleo diet series (especially the last installment, “takeaways and tensions,” which sounds promising and compelling already), i think i’d like to hear first about how ministry and family is balanced in your life. this is probably because there’s definitely more of an emotional pull towards a piece written about something as personal as family (and not just any family, at that! 🙂 ). also i think if you write about something as passionate and significant to you as mel, ben and sophie, we may get a more engaging and compelling reading experience than if you wrote about the paleo-diet.
not that a potential paleo-diet blog won’t engage us readers!
(and if not the next series, i hope for a ministry/family series in the near future)
i hope this helps and looking forward to the next series!
Hey guys, thanks for the input. I think I am going to start posting the Paleo series, mainly because I’m not super happy about my writing in the other one yet. It’s probably actually because it is a lot more personal (like Dave said) that I want to spend a little more time on it. But I’ll work on it some more that one and post it next.