Writing a good blog is freaking hard!
While out on the web looking for blog-authoring tips, I came across this: The Top 10 Blogs for Writers (copyblogger.com). There are some good, helpful articles linked there that give some pretty good tips on the craft of blogging. And, don’t kid yourself: Blogging is a craft, and the best bloggers are artisans in their own right.
I happen to know at least a couple of people who run compelling, successful blogs that enjoy high readership. One factor to the success of these blogs, in my opinion, is the fact that the authors in these cases are literature geeks or professional journalists, which implies that the authors have actual formal training in writing. Posts by these authors tend to be interesting to read, thought-provoking or controversial, and encourage reader feedback.
Or, the blogger has a lot of cute LOLCat pictures. Whatever.
From a techie standpoint, I love the convenience of the weblog format: I can publish content to my site with nothing other than a web browser. Using tags, I can categorize my content and generate a neato tag cloud thingie (right). Syndication via RSS allows for really cool possibilites, too: for example, my parents will probably never remember my weird website address. They sure like Yahoo though, and I can plug my RSS feed into their My Yahoo pages, and they are instantly up-to-date on what I’m writing (or not writing.... ummm....)
After three-ish years of maintaining this weblog, I feel comfortable saying that I will not be a super-star blogger. For one, I usually only feel like writing blog entries when I’ve been drinking. I don’t have a set frequency to my posts; I just write "when the spirit moves me". If I feel pressured to hammer out a blog post every week, the end result is worthless. Really, this entire website is a hobby, and hobbies should be fun, not tedious.
Secondly, I enjoy reading blogs a lot more than writing them.
Thirdly, I had much more fun creating the machinery that hosts and runs this blog than I’ve ever had writing a blog post. I guess that’s why I’m a developer and not a novelist.
Just so you know, I’m not giving up blogging. I simply have more respect for good bloggers these days, and am taking any and all pressure off of myself to post anything truly thought-provoking or noteworthy. I’ll keep this blog going as place to post general updates, thoughts, opinions, and photos. And - in case you’re wondering - I will probably continue to write most posts after I’ve been drinking.