Broken Promises

I have dropped the ball.

With a brief moment to consider it, I can think of three or four "promised" articles, pieces I essentially pre-announced. The Cloverfield reaction piece I spent a lot of mental energy and started research for; a Death Valley writeup and photo post; my reaction to the end of the HD disc format war; my extended thoughts on buying an iPhone in October. These are all pieces I want very much to write, and look forward to the process just as much as the posting. And I want you to read these articles, and (hopefully) enjoy them.

So I made mention of them. I told you that they were coming.

And that was my mistake.

As you may have noticed, not one of those articles has been written yet. I have no real excuse why; I've been busy, sure, but I still have evenings, my lunch break, the weekend. Weekends. As I said, I want very much to write them; I still think about a few of them every day. But still, no actual progress is made.

I think, for me at least, announcing an article dooms it. Saying something is "coming soon" is saying that it's good enough to look forward to, that I intend it to be that good. I'm excited about it myself, to the point I need to say something even before the article is ready. But, once anticipation is set up, then there's pressure. Not in any rational sense, but since a promise has been made, now I have to deliver. If my writing sucks, I've disappointed people.

So I need the time to do it right. I can't just jot this off between projects, or after dinner and before Lost. No, I need to sit down and focus. Now isn't the right time, but Saturday will be... no, now it's Saturday, and I have some other things I want to do right now... oh, hmm, same story for Sunday, well, during the week I'll have time... no, it's Sunday again, shit... And now it's late, so, when it's done, it has to be really good. So I need to really hone in and focus now...

You can see where I'm going with this.

The answer, I think, is simple: no more promises made means no more promises broken. I hate having a lingering promise of "this cool thing will be here tomorrow, so come on back!" I've completely abandoned websites for this exact behavior, repeated enough times. And here I am, after mentally cursing other writers, finding myself doing the same thing.

Not only is this frustrating for me, but I imagine it's frustrating for you. Heck, on a much larger level, I've been voicing my irritation with Josh about how Apple has fallen into the same trap. They pre-announce the new Apple TV software update for two weeks in the future, and it comes out as full four weeks later. Time Capsule is supposed to ship in a few weeks, and six weeks later, my pre-order is still only that. This doesn't spell doom for one of my favorite companies, but it's not a pleasant pattern. It's a poor practice to get into, and it self re-inforces; miss one deadline without consequences, and the next deadlines start to feel more fluid, when they shouldn't be.

It's time to break the cycle.

If I have something I want to address or discuss, I'll goddamn write it before I write about it. I've been missing opportunities and wasting your time with these broken promises. No more.

I'm sorry about the delays. I'm sure this fuss seems melodramatic, but please imagine the amused smile I have on my face; I don't take myself too seriously. Lives aren't lost when I post late (or not at all), but I aspire to be better and more responsible, so hey, if that means calling myself out, then I'm up to the challenge.

Time to get back on the wagon. Let's go.