Blog Posts Left Unwritten

The title of this blog post was inspired by the song “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. If you don’t know the song, go check it out on YouTube now – it’s guaranteed to bring back memories and good vibes!

Who Should I Give Credit To?

I’m not sure who gave me the idea to make this blog post. I believe I got the idea from Pooja, who runs a popular blog named Lifesfinewhine. It’s been a hot minute but I’m fairly sure it was her, unless it was another blogger. I do remember reading a post about it years ago. Pooja, if you’re reading this, please correct me if I’m wrong.

At this point, I realized that I had to face the harsh realization that I have no intention of completing these drafts, regardless of the reason. Since some of these ideas are unconventional, weird, or super random, I thought, why not share them with you? Perhaps you’ll discover a different side of me that you haven’t seen before. The benefit of this is that I can finally reduce the number of drafts I have. I currently have 60 drafts which is bit too much.

1. I Got Scammed on Facebook!

Drafted since: August 2017

In the year 2017 where Facebook ads are practically harassing your news-feed, it should be safe to assume that all ads can be trusted, given the thousands of comments that follow, legit looking websites and even legit-looking reviews on these endorsed advertisements. In the year 2017, it should be safe to assume that Facebook cares about your well-being and wouldn’t endorse websites that sell knock-offs, right? WRONG.

In case you are wondering what this scam was about, I had ordered a nostalgic 1990’s Tamagotchi, yenno, the ones we had as kids. I saw a great deal on Facebook and jumped on board before realizing that it was a cheap knockoff of the real thing. Stupid of me, I know. It is quite evident why I have not been able to complete this blog post, as it has already been a staggering 6+ years since this incident had taken place.

👉 FYI They looked legit in the FB ad, okay? Don’t judge.

2. Flickr Frustrations

Drafted since: June 2019

As you may know, I am not only trying to work on decluttering my physical environment, but also dealing with my digital clutter. I haven’t realized just how bad the digital mess has gotten until I opened my Flickr account this afternoon after a long 2-year digital hiatus. I love the Flickr app because I can use it to find photos without having to keep backup copies on my phone or computer. Correction: I loved Flickr until they started charging for the service and I had to shell out $20 just to retrieve my photos.

3. The Luxuries of Jaw Surgery

Drafted since: July 2021

Jaw surgery is not something we are entitled to. If you’re one of the few unfortunate people who needs this surgery done, then you might understand where I’m coming from. I didn’t know I even needed this surgery until I had my first consultation ever with an orthodontist yesterday. I sensed that something was very wrong with my smile and jaw alignment, but everyone around me denied it and convinced me I was fine. Well, I’m not fine. This is the first time in my life that I’m putting myself first and caring about my health.

Deep down, I care about the way I look. Call me shallow, egotistical or whatever, but I think that all humans to a degree care about these things. If you wear tons of makeup, you definitely care about how you present yourself to the world. Obsessed with clothes and shoes? Join the club. I don’t fit either of these categories, but I do care about my weight and physique.

4. Tropical Rockets Candy Review

Drafted since: October 2020

In the United States, these candies are known as Smarties. Canadian smarties are very different. I had high hopes for Tropical Rockets but there is literally no difference between the Original Rockets and Tropical Rockets, except for the colours. I don’t even know what the flavours are supposed to be since they all taste the same to me. In the tropical pack however, green was added to the mix, and surprisingly, these rockets tasted a bit like sour lime. At least they tasted like something, and not some unidentifiable chalky candy.

5. That Time I Tried Making Supplements

Drafted since: December 2019

I’m sure that you have all done weird things at some point in your life. We’re humans after all, so it’s no surprise that humans do weird sh*t. Who knows, maybe I will end up writing about it one day because I think it would make for a good story. I ended up making calcium/eggshell supplement powder (don’t ask), and weight-loss pills using paprika and some other spices. You can turn pretty much anything into a supplement if you have dissolvable gel capsules. It ended up being a big waste of money and it made a big mess, but it was a fun experiment.

6. The Diderot Effect Just Got Real

Drafted since: August 2020

What is the Diderot effect? Great Question! The best definition I found comes from Understanding the Diderot Effect (and how to overcome it). Check out the original article here. All of these seemingly small purchases really do add up over time, and if you aren’t careful, they can add up quickly. And sadly, I used my credit card to purchase most of the pricier items. I only regret impulse buys and I’ll be more mindful of my purchases in the future.

7. Died and Came Back to Life

Drafted since: May 2019

I’m providing some context as I didn’t write a blog post entry. On November 17, 2018, I was playing Persona 5 when an unexpected event occurred. After dedicating 100 hours of gameplay, one wrong move reset the entire game, causing me to panic. This is a cautionary tale about the importance of maintaining multiple save files, as unexpected events can occur, leading to a major shock. I recall exactly where my character was when he was killed and the game restarted from the beginning. Fortunately, I was able to recover my last save file from before that point in the game. I had to backtrack a bit, which was frustrating and cost me an hour or two, but at least I didn’t have to start from scratch. The game nearly gave me a heart attack.

8. Could My Cat Be Morgana?

Drafted since: May 2019

Okay, this was a really dumb blog post idea. I was thinking up ways my cat, Timon, was similar to Morgana the cat from Persona 5. At the time, I was playing this game nonstop for a month so it’s all I thought about. I was in a deep depression after failing a clinical rotation, which set me back a year in nursing school. With nothing to occupy my time, I turned to gaming. It was my husband’s suggestion actually. And well, it did help me take my mind off of things.

Give Timon a yellow collar and this cat could cosplay as Morgana.

9. Managing the Dreaded Spam Folder on WordPress

Drafted since: June 2022

How to control spammy comments

1. Manage your settings. Automatically approve non-spammy comments by approving everyone’s first comment they ever make. One of my pet peeves if having every single comment of mine approved on someone’s blog. There is no reason for this, if you know I am a regular follower.

2. Check your spam folder often. Check your spam folder once or twice a week from a desktop; Sometimes, an innocent comment will end up in the spam folder so it’s important to check EVERY comment. Think this is too much of a hassle? You may be missing out on future followers, especially if you’re already implementing suggestion 1.

3. Disable comments on older posts. I haven’t done this yet but I am about to. There is no reason to reply to 2-year-old comments. Sometimes, I will but its starting to become a hassle navigating through old posts because I have an obligation to reply to comments.

4. Only registered users can leave comments. Users must be registered and logged in to comment (can be found under settings) Why is this important? I noticed that the majority of the spam was generated by private emails linked to third party websites. By removing the option for anyone to comment, unless they are a WordPress user, I cut down on 95% of the spam.

10. Quarantine Style

Drafted since: June 2020

The problem is that I never actually got around to writing up a blog post because the topic was so boring. The list was something like this: Allow natural sunlight in, stick to a schedule, take breaks, establish a morning routine, leave the house, create a daily to-do list, etc. Nothing I had to say was original or captivating. However, I must admit, the title was ingenious. By the time I considered turning this into a blog post, quarantine had ended.


(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ CONCLUSION ♥

That concludes this blog post! I tried to dig up old photos and couldn’t really find the ones I wanted. Still, I’m glad that I was finally able to put this blog post together in a way that hopefully makes sense. Now you’ve seen another layer of weirdness in me that you didn’t know existed.

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

19 thoughts on “Blog Posts Left Unwritten

  1. Brian, Snarebox says:

    Running through them like this is a good idea because I have about 40 and I know I’ll never finish them. I don’t even care about the topics most of them were on anymore.

    Yours go back WAY father than mine, which is impressive. 😅 I’ve been on WordPress for a long time but I’ve deleted my blogs every couple years (I don’t think I’ll do that again) so there’s no record of my life prior to 2022.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hilary Tan says:

      You’re probably familiar with the term “digital clutter” and I think these drafts fall into that category. If you have no emotional attachment to your drafts, then I highly suggest deleting them. Trust me, you’ll feel better after moving them to the trash bin.

      I don’t think I could delete my drafts every couple of years because I have an emotional attachment to the topics/ideas. Writing this blog post really helped me “let go” of the digital clutter and help clear my mind. I still have a lot of drafts left but we gotta start somewhere.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Hilary Tan says:

      I’m down to 50 drafts now. Some contain sensitive information because I use WP instead of Microsoft Word. Those drafts I can’t upload at all.

      This is very relatable. At one point I tried this and wrote down blog post titles on the notes app on my phone too. But then I would completely forget about these notes. I don’t know how many drafts I have on my phone and should probably declutter them too. 🙇‍♀️

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Pooja G says:

    I have so many drafts I’ve abandoned too lol, I think you may have been inspired by a post I wrote a while ago about drafts but not sure. I swear I don’t even remember all my posts 😅 I see potential in all your draft posts 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  3. stevescountry says:

    I had a lot of drafts sitting around since I first started blogging and the other day I finally decided to get rid of them all. Now I figure if they sit there longer than 6 months then I will not use it. Wish I had thought about making a post about them! These days I have trouble coming up with ideas. Sigh. Have a great weekend Hilary!😊😺☕☕

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment