What a year of Thursdays taught me

A year ago I promised a letter every Thursday morning. I didn't tell anyone that I had never kept a weekly promise to myself for longer than six weeks. Fifty-two Thursdays later, here is what I learned about showing up.

The three near-misses

Three times the letter almost didn't go out. Once I was ill, once my laptop died, and once I simply had nothing to say. Each time, what saved it was a smaller version of the issue, not a better one.

• When I was ill, I sent three links and a single paragraph.

• When the laptop died, I wrote the issue on my phone in a café.

• When I had nothing to say, I wrote about having nothing to say. It got more replies than any essay that month.

The schedule is the product. The essay is just what happens to be inside it this week.

The one rule I keep

The rule is simple: the letter goes out on Thursday, whatever its size. I can skip the essay, the links or the question, but not the send. Readers told me later that they didn't notice the small weeks. They noticed when something arrived.

That rule has leaked into everything else I make. A small step on time beats a perfect step later, which is the idea behind the ninety-minute evening.

Thank you for reading, replying and forwarding this to people who make things after work. Year two starts now.

Most of all, I learned that a promise kept in public is easier than one kept in private. Eleven friends turned into a few thousand readers, and every one of them made Thursday a little harder to skip.

The numbers, for anyone who likes them: fifty-two issues, about forty thousand words, three hundred and twelve replies, and one very kind email from a reader who printed every issue and keeps them in a folder. I didn't expect any of that when I sent the first one to eleven friends.

The thing I didn't predict was how much the replies would shape the letter. The question at the end of each issue started as an afterthought. It became the best part of my week. Your answers led to the reading lists, the interviews and at least four essays.

I also learned what not to do. I tried a longer format for a month and replies dropped. I tried sending on Sunday evenings and open rates fell by a third. Thursday breakfast, short and regular, is what this letter is. I've stopped fighting that.

Year two will look mostly the same, with one change: an interview every month, with someone who makes things around a full-time job. If that is you, or someone you know, reply and say hello.

This week's question: what have you kept doing for a year without telling anyone? Hit reply. I'd love to know.

— Ines