I’m sure it must be possible to document the stages you go through when you create a blog. Something along the lines of interest, enthusiasm, doubt, (re)assurance, wonder (people respond!), obsession (overwhelming interest in other blogs, blogging, what shall I write today??), burnout, recommitment… Of course bloggers have already written about these stages (this one in 2002!), and I’m sure someone will study this phenomenon, sometime 🙂
I think I am in the obsession stage at the moment. I check my feeds too often (I need to tidy up my Bloglines feeds), I find myself thinking that such-and-such would make a good topic to write about, or wonder whether the topic has already been picked up by a blog somewhere… And where does the feeling of frustration that you can’t write about work in too much detail (or in any detail at all!) because you could get into trouble, where does that feeling fit in? I envy all those well-established bloggers who have worked out what their focus is, and write these lucid, good-to-read entries everytime they post! (I include all of you who comment on my ruminations in this.) Blogs like abecedaria and feel-good librarian, for example.
I think I just need to get over this angst and get on with it. Time for a bowl of porridge.
Categories: blogging
5 Comments
Did you see, Wikipedia classified nasi lemak as porridge? Hmm…
Have you read this in the Blogger help:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=1060&topic=44
The section relevant to what you are saying is in the middle.
The rules that I follow for myself are these:
1. Know your focus or target audience as you’ve said.
2. Resist the urge to blog about anything and everything, ie. don’t have a verbal diarrhoea. 😉
3. Make a publishing schedule for yourself (eg. every 2 days) and keep to it.
4. If stuck, write about stuff that you know personally and well. There’s always a mine full of stuff to write about from one’s past or present. No one can be that boring. 🙂
5. Read a lot of blogs – great for ideas too.
And yes – don’t EVER blog about work. 😛
Cherry: no way!!! (I tried to edit the wiki page but I couldn’t, will have to experiment)
Mooiness: great rules. I still don’t know who my target audience is but I think I’ll resolve that by working out what it is I’ll write about 🙂 If I wasn’t so identifiable here (anyone who really wants to know can probably do a bit of fossicking around and work it out!) I would talk about work. I’d have to start a new anonymous blog… but then writing about work would probably make my blood pressure rise so it’s probably a good thing not to write about it!
Take the middle way! Doing numerous small bits constantly may be better than doing something monumental scarcely!
Keep up the blogging!
Thanks, Israd. I think I will stick with this, at least for a while – it’s been fun! 🙂