Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Should I Stay the Course or Reinvent the Wheel?

It has been just about a year now, and I still cannot seem to get into a rhythm with writing this blog.  Some weeks I post four times, others not once.  I imagine it has been a little frustrating for the few friends and family (and I hope the odd stranger or two) who have decided to follow me here, and I apologize for that.

Now that I am writing a weekly column for iPinion, I have been faced with a new dilemma.  I have committed to producing for that site on a weekly basis, and so most of my better ideas and more polished prose have gone there.  In the last few weeks, this has left me with little to write about here.  I think that I have finally figured out something important about myself through all of this: I might be working too hard on this blog.

I don't mean to say that it is taking up too much of my time, or that it is too stressful, nothing like that.  I just mean that I have not allowed myself to be mediocre.  I have been too fussy, I think, about producing polished, researched material.  I have always sought to present a complete answer, and not allowed myself to post questions.  I shelve half-baked ideas indefinitely, and only bring them forth if they are ready for the bakery display case.  In short, I have not allowed this to be a blog.  I have been thinking of it as an eternal testament to my abilities as a writer and not an online diary of thoughts and experiences (which is, after all, what a blog is supposed to be).

The result is that my rate of output has been very mediocre, even if the quality of work has been marginally better for it.  Which brings me to that dilemma: now that I am writing a weekly column somewhere else, should I allow this blog to find its own more bloggy voice?  So now I put the question to you, my presumed reader: should I...

A) Reinvent the wheel - change the tone of this blog completely, post more often, just whatever comes to mind.  Throw up links I find interesting from other relevant websites, throw out questions and half baked ideas, shoot for posting something, anything, as often as possible and perhaps even every day?

Or...

B) Stay the course - continue with my sporadic but fairly well edited prose, more considered arguments and complete ideas.  Keep my brow above the bar, so to speak.

Mind you, going for a more type A blog would not preclude the occasional type B post, I fully intend to post all of my older iPinion pieces on this blog eventually, and also to continue the 'Dream of Less' series e.g. And staying the course doesn't mean that I will only write once a month (though that has occasionally been the case in the past), it just means that I wouldn't loose the gates of my unconscious to the blogosphere.

Anyway, feedback is much appreciated in the comments, I hope to hear from all my regulars and would love it if a newcomer weighed in.  Thanks for reading everyone.

4 comments:

  1. I would be happy to read this blog in Type A fashion - especially if it is littered with Type B posts (whether new or simply reposts of or links to the iPinion pieces).

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  2. I do love your posts thus far...and while it's true it can be hard to know when you are going to post, the result has been some real quality gems... However, if this were sprinkled with shorter posts, tidbits, musings... I think that could also be a delight to read. Perhaps, you could introduce a few weekly rituals - ie. one day you post links to things you have found interesting, with a short blurb. Maybe set a day for recipes, another for how-to's...basically some shorter things, mixed in with your previous format which is more editorial style?

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  3. Quality is more important than quantity, either in frequency or in length. Don't worry how often you post, feel free to post very short pieces, and keep the standards high!

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  4. Thanks guys, still mulling it over for now. So that's one strong vote for A, one for B, and one suggestion for a new structure kind of...

    I'll be sure to keep you guys updated if I intend to go through with any interesting changes. Thanks again for reading.

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