Three Cheers

I've long believed that something can start whenever desired.

So it was that I wrote a post on Dec 30, 2018. I wrote about -- shockingly -- play-by-play and a live stream of classic baseball games, including Game 4 of the 1943 World Series.

The post was basically what you've come to expect from "Exit 55." At the same time, there was a method to my madness.

I had written -- to that point -- 34 posts in 2018 with the Dec. 30 entry included. I thought it was either time to write or time to say goodbye. To that end, I had debated whether I would write some kind of farewell or just walk away quietly.

But I wrote the post and it felt good. Yet I often ramped up my writing around the turn of the calendar.

I had toyed with the idea of a post-per-day before, normally around the same time each year.

Each effort had failed but this one felt like it had a finality to it. Do it or stop.

The next day, John Nash wrote about his idea for a post-per-day project and suggested it was something he'd like to see me try.

I noted it in my post on Dec 31.

Then I wrote again on Jan 1, 2019.

And Jan 2.

Jan 3.

4...

Today is the 1,097th consecutive day with a post. It's the third anniversary of starting this crazy idea.

The Channel Four News Team celebrates the achievement

You know the deal by now. I've often revealed too much and, yet, not as much as you might think. Oh, the things I haven't written about.

You know the emotions I've dealt with. 

You know the losses and the triumphs.

You know about the parking lots and strange locations I've written from.

You know when I wrote from a stadium or San Francisco or Brockton or Stedman, North Carolina.

In total, since Aug 2006, I've published 3.445 posts, including this one.

At this point, it's a habit. It's something I think about every day. The posts are probably better earlier in the day but they're not always logical to create. The ones written under duress and late at night are more slapdash.

As has been said, there might have been some home runs and some not. I'll leave that to the critics to discuss.

There are stances I'm proud of taking and things I cringed about. There are some posts that meant a lot.

I think I'm more well-rounded and wiser -- hopefully, a better person -- but I'm not sure I'm a better writer.

I'm sorry to those I've ticked off. Still, thanks for reading.

I'm grateful to all for clicking each link.

When will this end? I don't know. It will happen one day. It has to.

There have been days that I just thought I'd stop. There have been nights where time was running out and I thought it made sense to skip.

There have been moments where I couldn't wait to get to the computer. There have been dark moments where it felt over.

Yet here we are and we'll likely be back tomorrow. Some days I know what I want to say ahead of time. Others? Well, I sit down and write. You all probably know that I'm best when I ad-lib.

I can't predict we'll complete the fourth year of Project 365 but we'll get it started and see where it goes.