Blogging: it is harder than it looks
by davidthayer
One thing I forgot about while taking a bit of a break from this blog is that putting out quality content is harder than it looks. I forgot about the pressure that can develop and the insecurity that can rise up. Blogs move at a fast pace and the conversations develop paths of their own. I feel like in some ways when I took a break, the blogosphere moved on and the conversations no longer include this blog. This is not the fault of others so much as it is a reflection of my lack of energy and focus. One thing not always mentioned is that blogs take work and concentration to get attention. There are so many blogs out there right now that you can just toss post out into the ether and hope someone notices; they likely won’t. In order to get back into that conversation you have to visit blogs, leave comments, use trackbacks, email bloggers, and generally make yourself known. Even if you do all that you can get lost in the noise.
For some reason I feel a little tone deaf right now. I can’t seem to get plugged into the conversations and issue of the day. I feel like I am writing, when i do manage to write, for near random Google searches. When my blog world seemed smaller I felt a connection with other bloggers that I seem to have lost. To really get back in the game I know I would either have to get faster (get to or break stories sooner) or better (right higher quality think pieces). Right now I am not sure I can do that consistently. I keep coming back to the fact that if I had the time and focus to right high quality posts I would be writing for magazines instead of blogs. But to be fair, blogging – when done right – can give me a more immediate satisfaction and less stress than trying to write for magazines.
For the remainder of this month I am going to try and nail down what I want to do in my blogging and get things set up for that starting in 2005. For the any of you who actually come here by choice rather than accident or Google: why do you visit? What do you think I should focus on? I know everyone says do what makes you happy, but I am interested in what readers think too. If you want to leave a comment just letting me know you are around, that is fine too.
I think you just have to have the confidence to be yourself and write on what interests you. From my brief experience in the blogosphere, I find that most of the blogs merely parrot the print columns posted on newspaper sites. I don’t need 600 websites discussing what George Will wrote in his latest column. I can read it for myself if I want to. Instead, I want to find out how someone here or someone there is dealing with events that are most important to him or her. It is far more worthwhile to have original content — and original ideas — than merely trying to ride the wave of whatever Andrew Sullivan, Michele Malkin, Hugh Hewitt or others have already discussed on their sites.