When I set up a calendar version of the archive on this site, it didn’t occur to me that this would give rise to two incentives. Consider this screenshot:

You will notice the following:

• When I don’t post anything on a particular day, that slot looks depressingly blank.

• When I publish one article on a particular day, the effect is quite colourful because the thumbnail image shows up.

• When I publish more than one article a day, the article titles are listed, but there is no image.

This suggests to me that (a) I must post something every day if possible, and (b) that if I write more than one article in a day, I ought to schedule it so that it appears the following day, or at least some time in the future. That would help to ensure that the number of empty slots is minimised, and at the same time maximise the attractiveness of the calendar.

Unfortunately, scheduling is hard for me, because I love seeing my name in print — even if I’m the one who put it there. Having to wait a day or longer to see my work is just too unbearable to contemplate. So I think the situation of blank spaces side by side with crowded ones likely to prevail for some time.

This article has been cross-posted from my writing blog.