To Blog or Not To Blog

To Blog or Not To Blog

That is often the question.  I wrote about this some time ago, asking just who has the time to blog, blog, blog, on a regular basis?  So many posts, so many topics, so many things to discuss!  And isn't writing a time-consuming process?  And, if your writing/blogging habits are anything like mine, then there's the rewrite and the edit and rethink after the initial composition.

Sure, some posts just fly off the fingertips, onto the keyboard and up to the screen.  Then, what with a scant few clicks thereafter ...  Zing!  Published.  But longer posts or  think pieces take more time and effort.  Admission: I find myself in awe of those who can consistently dash off a few lines and get something said, and do so with a degree of regularity.  Perhaps this occurs hereabouts because I do a lot of writing for clients.  Word usage, structure and flow are to me critical elements of composition.  I have been known to suffer over the turn of a phrase or if I'll ever get the wording right on some sentence or a clause or statement.

Blogging in my head (never seeing the light of monitor) occurs all the time.  Notes for future posts and a long collection of unfinished posts are to be found in all sorts of folders.  On the laptop, on the desktop, on the other PC, in spiral notebooks or the back of envelopes and paper napkins.  So what is it that prevents those posts from fruition?

Time and circumstance, that's what.

But there's more.  Between the first paragraph and this one I did a search and found that it was a year ago this week that I first wrote about this  matter.  I called that piece The Lonely Blog.  It used loneliness as a quasi metaphor for all the lagging posts, the unfinished compositions, the ideas or sentences and fragments that were meant to be here, but never quite made it.   Some of those posts languish in a state of suspended animation because there's not enough time to spend on them.  Some of them stop being relevant or having any point.  Some just get trashed by attrition.

A recent assignment had me writing up a storm.  To the point that even reading e-mail and spending more screen time seemed like a chore.  Those who know me well are wondering just how could I have written such a sentence, since it often seems I spend the majority of my waking hours at the keyboard.  But writing is different from reading.  Composing, researching, gathering data and doing analytics makes it that much harder to write the casual piece.

And then there are those times when there's just no real impetus to blog at all.  The Blog Blahs.  There's a weekly Thursday night Bloggers Meeting at the Berkman Center (yes, a few years back, the place I referred to as the home office, the veritable epicenter, of the blogosphere) and tonight the topic of discussion is those very Blog Blahs.  Why do bloggers suffer from this malady?  Is it, indeed, a malady or just part of the process?

Two of my favorite bloggers (one of whom is leading the Berkman discussion tonight) now are focused on community blogs.  And the result: their personal blogs get less attention.  Or, in one specific case, no attention.  But I won't link to that one.  Or give any hints that would serve up a hint about that person's identity.  That person's very witty, snarky, somewhat local to me (well, nearby sorta kinda), identity.  Is that a variation on the theme of the Blog Blahs?  Blog so much in one place (or places) that there's no time, energy or inclination to post on the personal blog?  Could be.  Maybe medical schools will classify this as a malady. 

It certainly happens in this space.

Posts hereabouts are far less frequent than in prior times.  And so it goes, until my focus returns to this as a forum for a series of longer term, topic driven  content and discussion.  Truth be told, there are a few items on that fire, and it would be a welcome event to get revved up and back at it, regularly posting. 



Blogging as a commercial endeavor is a different story.
  And that has some effect on me and my blog as well.

There are posts by this blogger written elsewhere, ghostwritten or composed on behalf of others.  There are people and entities I've trained to blog, taught how to blog, introduced to and coached or consulted along the path.  I always advise one crucial point: for a business blog: to have any oomph, it must be regularly updated, the content must be timely and reflect the issues of the moment, and it is wise to store up posts for later use.  The blahs will set in, writer's block will occur, other issues will distract attention.  This is where basic business planning comes in.  Keep a storehouse of evergreen posts, or watch the blog get old.  Maintain a posting frequency level (be it daily, X times per week or per month) and keep a full reserve of ready-to-go posts for times when those assigned to the task of blogging are otherwise indisposed.  That storehouse needs to be sufficient for two months worth of posts.  Plan ahead and be prepared.  Murphy has not overlooked blogging, bloggers, or the blogosphere.

In my case the fewer posts per month are due to too much work, lack of time or inclination to write the longer think-pieces I'd like to post.  Or just the blahs.  After a long day, week or whatever period, blogging often gets back-burnered.

Sometimes I feel a little guilty.  After all, I have a blog, I know from the referrer logs that people subscribe and check it out.  And the search engine hits for various terms and words or subjects brings about many visitors to the "front page" of the blog.  Surely it does not encourage new readers to see a lack of fresh content.  When the date of the most recent post is a few weeks old this cannot be good.  Or maybe that's just how I see it, and not the perception of visitors to this blog.  Could be it doesn't matter at all.  This is not a business blog.  This is my own personal place to write about whatever tickles my fancy.

This blog is a hobby, a personal blog.  Something I enjoy.  It never stops thrilling and amazing me when people tell me they read it, or better yet, can quote from it.  Some post or phrase or wordplay sticks in their mind.  These events are very gratifying.  Perhaps if I posted more often this would occur with greater frequency.  Then again, we know what familiarity breeds.

"You should blog about that!"

For a little over a decade this has been a phrase in the vernacular.  I hear it all the time.  My Significant Other says this to me, as do other relatives, friends and associates.  At an event two nights ago and a business dinner last night I heard this a number of times.  In one discussion a friend and associate commented that the discussion he and I and some others were having would be the topic of his blog post today.  If I ever finish composing this, I'll click on his blog.  And I'll do so from my blogroll, to the right.

One fellow all but instructed me to blog about something.  He spoke in the imperative, as though issuing a command.  Another fellow in the discussion gave me his card and asked me to send him a link to the topic, or to my blog post on it.

If workload or the blahs don't get in the way, I'll try to post that tomorrow.  Funny how this post follows a most recent prior post on Procrastination.

Stay tuned!