Yesterday's Jam 🫙

I've mentioned in my three years bloggoversary post, that I never run out of writing ideas. Over the years, dozens have accumulated. This is something I'm thankful for. However, a million writing ideas without discipline of execution are really just that: ideas.

My (notorious) drafts folder (yes, I have one too) is full of these writing ideas that oftentimes consist of nothing more than a paragraph or even worse: a mere title of a post I potentially could write in a distant future (alias never).

Here are two examples for paragraphs of some of these loose ideas:

I was out on a stroll when it happened. I wanted to check something on my phone. As we are all aware these days, there's always a reason or another to check one's phone. When I typed in the search term in the URL bar of my web browser, nothing happened. [...]

When after a digital reset of the purest variety, that had me close all apps and restart my phone, I still had no connectivity, I became suspicious. Something is wrong here, I was convinced. Somehow, escaping my attention, my phone provider disconnected my line. Shit was about to hit the fan.

— Phoneless, a writing idea from March of 2025

On Saturday night, it's not too late. You've still got a whole Sunday ahead of you. No need to worry. But soon enough, that whole day of possibility escapes your grip. As soon as Sunday afternoon arrives, you start to worry and long for that Saturday night feeling that seems so far off by now.

— Stop all the Mondays, a writing idea from November of 2025

Some of my ideas (and yes—potentially: blog posts) are "timeless". Writing about Mondays—which is obviously the most unpopular day of the week—having to disappear from all our lives is a post I could have written back in November when I had this thought. Equally, I can write about it today—or a year from now!

But then there are ideas that are born in a certain time frame and demand execution right then and there. When my phone provider disconnected my line and I had digital minimalism forced upon me was a unique experience that happened on a particular day at the beginning of March of 2025. Writing about it today is possible but it'll miss some of the context. It'll miss some of the insights from back then, which I seem to only be able to grasp at the time.

Not pursuing these ideas at the time I have them is a trait of mine that I would like to change. During my time as a writer, I have soon given in to the notion that writing really only works during my occasional phases of inspiration. By now, I've reached a point where I don't even try at other times.

I've realised that I don't want to be at the mercy of my moods and feelings anymore. When I want to write, I should just go ahead and write, damn it. If I have an idea that I seem valuable, exploring said idea is what I should do. It's too bad having to let go of ideas that once seemed interesting but have lost their appeal in time.

I've watched the pilot episode of the IT Crowd the other day and there's this conversation of Moss and Roy about them being treated like shit by the staff:

R: Once [their IT problem] is fixed...
M: ...they toss us away like yesterday's jam!
R: Yes! Yesterday's jam! That is what we are to them (phone rings).
R (after a moment of hesitation): You know, actually, that doesn't really work... as a thing, because jam lasts for ages.
R (answering phone in the IT department's iconic way): Have you tried turning it off and on again?

So that's my obvious takeaway from these smart nerdy gentlemen: I shouldn't treat my wonderful writing ideas like yesterday's jam.