Blogging Momentum

I mentioned in my March 13th post that I was pleased with my recent blog output, but was unsure of the reasons behind it. Now that I have been maintaining an excellent blogging schedule for several weeks I've been giving some more thought to this topic.

Why I've started posting recently is fairly clear: in 2009 board games have established themselves as a significant part of my life. Games are one of the primary ways I enjoy relating to people, and thus are my favorite social setting. I've made more time to play games, which leads to a whole chain reaction culminating with blogging. Playing leads to wanting new games, which necessitates reading about games, then buying new ones, then thinking about them, and finally writing it all down.

What is perhaps not so evident is why I've kept up my posting so well since early march. Sure, part of this is that my reasons for blogging create a feedback loop. In the above list, each part of the process leads to the next, and finally writing about games on Splitting Eights leads to more playing and more board game thought. Bottom line is this: my blogging results in more thinking about games, and thus, more blogging.

This is not the whole story, however. I never really understood why, during my long absence from writing, I couldn't at least post several times a month on non-gaming topics. Certainly my life is interesting enough to have something to say! I've understood for a while that writing about games ultimately makes it easier to write more about games. What I just realized (and what any of you who blog yourselves already know) is that simply writing about anything leads to more writing. This is why I'm writing far more non-game related posts now in addition to the board game ones.

The important questions for me are these: why did I run out of steam in the first place, and how can I ensure that I keep up the blogging momentum this time around? I can't imagine I'll be able to maintain every day posting like I have recently, but will posting just three times per week still keep me engaged enough to continue blogging?