Blogjoy
So… I think about blogging sometimes. Which is natural, as I do it and I work in a marketing role that involves new media and my background is in writing and… and… and.
Why do we write? All kinds of answers to that question. When I was studying it in school, the answer was, “To get better at writing.” To obtain an easy facility. To hone the craft. To develop the tools. You write so that you can actually write. Most people, obviously, can string words together. That’d different than being a really good writer.
I can make macaroni and cheese from a box. I can feed myself. I am not a chef. I am barely qualified to be considered a bad cook.
I’m not sure that’s why most people blog. Maybe it’s about the same impulse that compels keeping a journal. Not in my case, as I never kept a journal. For me, it really is about finding a nugget of an idea and writing around it. The expression of thoughts in a way so as to convey meaning clearly. It’s an exploration. It’s art + science. Like poetry, but different.
From Infocult, I got a pointer to a post at Webomatica on “Why blogging sours.”
First off… “Why I nearly quit” stories kinda crack me up. When I was smoking, we (smokers) would always talk about how many times we’d tried to stop. So what? You didn’t. Shut up. Can I bum one? A long, well thought-out blog post about how you almost quit blogging is like when beautiful people complain about how they used to have damaged hair or skin problems. Look buddy… I got 11 toes the hard way; seven on one foot and four on the other, so shut yer pie hole.
He goes through a litany of his issues. Like, “A front page Digg is awesome, but I admit to a sugar-high let down when I realize all those Diggers just checked out one or two articles and left.”
Yeah. You write a post about how you “almost” quit, and include a reference to a previous, front page Digg. Sweet. So all of us out here who are blogging along with a few or a few dozen readers and whose chosen topics make us about as likely to appear in a Paris Hilton video as to get a front page Digg are supposed to feel motivated to… suck on a taxi’s tailpipe? Nice motivational style.
He closes with these takeaways:
- Think long term rather than short term.
- Be prepared for the long haul.
- Don’t expect instant success.
- Don’t quit your day job on day one.
- Expect to work hard on quality content and quality networking.
- Blogging in a vacuum sucks.
Correct me if I’m wrong… but those first three say the same thing. And “don’t quit your day job on day one.” Uh… I know dozens of bloggers personally. None of them blog for a living. Zero. For a very few, blogging is now part of their traditional day job, but I’m not aware of anybody in my circle making their whole nut off the medium.
“Expect to work hard on quality content and quality networking.” OK. Yes. If you want to do something well, expect to work hard. That’s… very… uh… specific.
And the last bullet isn’t a takeaway. It’s an observation. I know I’m being snarky here, I just really am kinda tired and getting over a cold and know many writers who struggle with actual writing issues. And a guy who gets 37 comments on a post about how he sometimes doesn’t get many comments… well, it’s just cracking me up.
So… I read this page and was shaking my head and was going to not post today because it reaallly motivated me to not write. Feh.
Then I checked my WordPress dash for incoming links and found that somebody I’d never met/contacted had added me to his blogroll. As usual in the blogosphere, I have no specific idea why. It’s always nice, and (one assumes) it’s because the person enjoys your writing. So I checked out his blog, read a few posts (he put up at least one original poem, and that’s always good for the universe), and found (through random poking) a very nice piece on his definition of success. It boils down to “have joy without screwing with others’ joy.” My very loose re-wording, so please forgive me, Mr. Hopkins.
I grok that.
And his piece caromed off my earlier, depressing thoughts about the “sour blogging” post and how to avoid it. In this weird, new world of blogs, YouTube, wikis, email, IM, WoW, SecondLife, etc… you know what? I don’t really need to be Dugg. I don’t need to make money on my blog. I don’t need hundreds of readers. What’s my definition of success for this little portion of my life?
When, out of the blue, one quality guy like E.C. Hopkins adds me to his blogroll.
If that’s not enough joy to keep you blogging for another six months, hang it up for real.
That’s my takeaway.
3 Comments so far
Leave a reply
Hi, thanks for the link and poking holes in my post, thoughtfully.
Sorry if it didn’t exactly motivate you to write; that wasn’t my intent.
Your comment about been dugg or have slightly more comments or traffic could stand a bit of framing, since a year ago my blog was a big zero. I’m sure you’ll find that very quickly, folks start grafting onto your blog that ironically, has little to do with quality of writing and far more to do with luck and networking.
You smartly point out that this stance of mine sounds kind of dumb, like some poser musician saying “we didn’t want success! and it’s not all that great!” I’m still grappling with that. Maybe I should just sell out completely?
But ultimately I don’t think there’s much difference between someone you never met adding you to their blogroll, comments, being dugg, and readership. They all have one thing in common: someone out there read something you wrote and felt a reason to respond. I still blog for that reason. It’s all the other blog related activity that brings me down from time to time.
For what it’s worth, I’ll subscribe to your blog. Thanks for making me think.
I learned of your blog via a link in another blog (I think it was Guy Kawaski’s) to one of your great posts, “The Box: Part 2, The Frame.” I read it and thought to myself “This is great writing” and “These ideas are refreshingly novel.” So, last month, when I finally decided to add yet another blog to the blogosphere, your blog had to be on my blogroll.
While selling my labor for more money per hour than I probably deserve, I usually write boring and artless stuff. Occasionally, I write good poetry. When I need to relax or write a nagging idea down, I blog a little. And, I set aside some time every week to read your blog, because your stuff is good and original. That compliment is coming from a fella who has read a few hundred good books and a lot of bad blogs.
@Webomatica: Thanks for the context update, and for the extremely thoughtful reply. I did read a couple of other posts on your blog, especially the ones about how being Dugg shut you down… and then about how the one about how being shut down shut you down. Ah, irony.
By day, I’m in marketing. And it is explicit that what we do there is at the behest of the company, and for specific, business reasons. That doesn’t preclude good writing, good customer relationships, good social behavior, etc. But at the end of the day, the question at the top of the queue is: did you add value for your employer. No conflict of interest there.
But there are folks who seem to be confused about why they blog. I’ve read “how to blog for cash” pitches that sound like “how to make money in real estate for no money down.” OK. If you want to score big SEO and flog that monkey and do Google Ads, etc. etc… OK. But then that’s gotta be what that’s about, I think. And if you’re totally honest with yourself, you either have to be someone with something worth saying (good content), or very good at marketing, including good connections. And if a blog is how you want to make that happen… again, I got no problem with it. But it’s not the reason most of the 17 million or whatever people are blogging, I don’t think.
Maybe some day I’ll get around to writing a post about how to keep blogging when all you care about is making a new friend or two every couple months, and setting down some thoughts.
Or I’ll keep writing about creativity, marketing, memetics, etc…. because all those link back to ways I keep blogging.
@E.C.: thanks for the high praise. I was the CMO at an AmLaw250 firm for 2.5 years. Be careful among the lawyers. They are smart, often funny, often very moral and socially conscious people who still manage to grind themselves into deep, dark, funky holes in the pavement. It’s a tough row. Try not to grind your teeth too much.