One of the things I find hardest about writing is actually getting
around to it. There are many other things I like doing. Lots of
them seem easier.

However, I've recently begun publishing a couple of projects
incrementally, making each section or essay or piece available as
soon as I've written it. I've found that this generates quite a bit
of momentum for me to keep going. There are two reasons for this.
One is that, since I've made a public commitment through the act
of publishing, I feel a responsibility to follow through. The
second is the feedback and interest generated around these
projects. Having someone else mention your writing is a real boost.

One of these projects is Please Switch Off the Dark: Exploring
Depression[1].

I find gopher quite conducive to this way of working. It makes it
so easy to just write a document and put it out there. No fuss. No
fluff. The hierarchical structure leaves room to add more content
without having to feel 'under construction'. The ease of building
menus means that a project can grow organically without becoming a
mess.

[1] gopher://grex.org/1/~jandal/depression [dead link]

Update
------

Those of you who are keeping up with Gopher on Grex may notice that
I have just taken down my project Please Switch off the Dark. I
feel I owe an explanation to at least my readers here.

I have decided not to continue with the project for two reasons.

The first is that I'm not able to reconcile all my own opinions on
some issues (specifically around antidepressants) and therefore
feel that I can't treat the topic in a way that will be useful to
others, which was my initial goal.

The second is that, since beginning the project, I have had a
number of unexpected things come up (both good and otherwise) that
I am choosing to give my time to as priorities.

That said, I will not (and probably cannot) forget about
depression, but will instead take a more personal approach to
helping the people around me whom I see affected by it.

So that I am not ending on a resoundingly empty note, here is an
interesting resource about depression that I happened across
recently: http://www.creativesagainstdepression.com/home