blog.deanland.com

A Pause in the Blog

The past week or so have been extremely busy for me. Work is heating up, many client projects and tasks requiring enormous amounts of my time. Detail work, contact and communications, a great deal of writing, e-mailing, distribution of data, much of which can be quite time-consuming.

And then there is the THINKING! Often my work requires me to come up with a conceptual product. Intangible as that may seem, and abstract though it is, the creating and ideating of a solution, a method, a compromise, a strategyÖ.is often best developed with some peace and quiet. I donít get too much of that in my line of work.

Another productive and often more enjoyable way to get to these abstract areas is to share the concept with a trusted and respected colleague. The verbalizing, the sharing of ideas, the putting of a situation into spoken wordsÖwill often be the catalyst to understanding or recognizing the matter. Saying it as opposed to thinking it, particularly in a conversant situation, can be the key to understanding. Or maybe just the key to unlocking the door, or removing a barrier, or somehow just providing entry into a path of consideration which had previously been either clouded, unclear, or not at all in one's range of vision.

That's vision in the figurative, metaphoric sense.

What does all of this have to do with anything at all, you may wonder.

Well, being busy lately has been a good thing. It feels good, I like what I'm doing, and there is a sense of accomplishment and gratification in the work.

But this has not always been the case. I recall a few years back, when life was pretty miserable: business was horrid, money was tight, personal life a wreck -- yet I was busy as could be! Pitches, presentations, meetings, potential client work, following up business leads and trying to find more work....my To Do list was sometime three pages long. I was busy doing whatever I could to make things better. But for what seemed like an eternity, things just didn't click. I couldn't close a deal, think up a worthy concept, make something happen. Even the projects and jobs and assignments which seemed tailor made for me somehow went to the next person. I truly understood the phrase, "you're never so busy as when you have nothing to do."
That period finally did come to an end, whew, sigh of relief. It left somewhat of a permanent mark on my psyche, that's for sure. And it makes recent weeks of much work, much productivity, much satisfaction and accomplishment that much sweeter.

But again, I digress. Back to the point.

This weblog thing is wonderful. It provides communication, soap box, forum, public aerials, the opportunity to opine, gripe, share jubilation, and to educate and disseminate thoughts and ideas. You can and should have one if you are at all inclined. There are a number of places to get one going. I use Userland's Weblog site and software. I heartily recommend it.

Interesting replies and response come from the 'blog. Some are funny, some are hateful. Many are rather thought out and well constructed, and are the kind of messages one has to reread and reread, to get the gist, the feel, the grok of it all. I like those messages.

Others are pithy, and some are downright funny. A scant few are mean and/or annoying. But, hey, it takes all kinds.

A friend of mine, some fifteen years older than I, was confused by the "soul baring" of it all. Is it a generational thing, he wondered. He is more given to the private, one-to-one sharing of one's issues, one's thoughts, one's feelings.

In much the same way as above, where I mention that talking it out or thinking it out can help in business ideation, I find I use this blog sometimes to work out my own thoughts. When I wrote about estrangement in my family it was quite therapeutic. My friend inquired as to the therapeutic aspect of my blogging, and opined that if this was a byproduct, then it was a good thing right there.

Indeed.

When I write about my kids or Susan, it comes, of course, from the heart. These are the three people most dear to me, along with my parents, and Destiny the cat, who is laying by the radiator as I write this.

I've written about matters of the spirit (aka the heart), about business, about work, about sports (I love Baseball, and with Spring Training having begun, I am giddy with joy and elation!), and various other topics which come to mind. The blog offers a sounding board for the thoughts or matter of the day.

Which brings me to the reason for this seemingly pointless ramble.

For the next few days I will be taking a breather from the blog. Work calls, some travel is involved, and the laptop saga remains in a state of suspended animation. No closure thereabouts. And, gee, the prices just keep on plummeting. I might just go get a whole new one and give up totally on the VAIO.

For the past few days I've thought about signing on and adding this or that to the blog. I see some of the blogs and pages I view on a regular, daily basis, and sometimes I envy the ability of some of those writers -- that they can be so succinct and communicate with such an economy of words. But if I did that it would be like trying to use someone else's style, not my own.

I'm still finding my voice in these parts. Your feedback is helpful, encouraged, and appreciated.

I think a few days off will actually help clarify what might be the next phases of content in this space. It seems time for a breather, and then there will probably be a whirlwind of posting.

And, of course, my other blog, Dean On Baseball, will be working in high gear as Spring Training moves along and we get nearer and nearer to the 2001 Season.

A big Thank You to the readers. This is fun, a real joy, and the whole blogging thing is the beginning of an aspect of publishing, distribution, sharing and theorizing which is a part of the rapid and raging development of the internet as a communications and distribution channel. Or should I say force? Nah, that's too violent and negative. But channel sounds either like a TV term, or one of those hokey marketing names that distributors and merchants use to identify different sales incarnations. But I trust you get the picture.

See you sometime late next week, or thereabouts.

And one more thing: we really do answer all the e-mail.