A beginning

And thus begins the start of a new endeavor.  As the name implies, the purpose of this journal is to encourage myself to write for thirty uninterrupted minutes a day.  Currently when I try to write, I get a sort of cognitive congestion as I attempt to put words on paper (or computer screen, as the case may be).  So, as a way to work through this mental constipation, I'm going to force myself to write for a period of time each day, until I find it easier to express myself.  

Naturally, some time has elapsed between the intention and the doing.  Starting something new is hard.  Stopping something is hard.  Making a change in how you live your life is not an easy thing to do.  It's a lot easier to keep doing, or not doing, whatever you are doing, than it is to adjust it to a healthier way.  I've done this sort of thing before; I've quit smoking.  I've changed to a low carb diet, I quit drinking the massive quantities of diet soda that I had drunk for 20 some odd years.  That last was actually the hardest, I think.  Giving up an addiction involves a period of time where you're actively not doing things.  "Hey man, what are you doing?"  "Not smoking."  "That's cool, I'm not drinking.  Later on, I'm going to go out and not eat a big bowl of ice cream.  Wanna come?"

Hopefully, keeping this going will involve somewhat less in the way of willpower.  After all, this is only a commitment of thirty minutes a day, and the mental energy involved in composing words to put down on paper.  As this disjointed narrative attests, I'm not currently investing too much mental energy in what words get put down on the paper.  I just want to keep the flow going.

So what kind of subjects might this cover?  Anything that suits my fancy--gaming, historical European martial arts, politics, philosophy.   Essentially, whatever I'm thinking about in the day.  It might get a little rant-y.  I'm a ranter.  As I grow more confident, and the words flow more freely, I may try my hand at fiction.  I've always wanted to write stories, but have lacked the willpower to sit down and force them onto paper (or pixel--it is the computer age after all).  Again, we see the purpose of this journal.  It's bench presses for my brain and sit ups for my typing fingers.

If you were wondering, the above was written over 15 minutes.  I don't intend to make every post a stream of consciousness logo-rhea, but it seemed kind of appropriate for the first post.