What is the word that I'm looking for? It's.....right there, not quite on the tip of my tongue, but definitely right there at the tip of my frontal lobe. Wait a minute....wait a minute...let me just pick up this two by four and...now for my best interpretation of a t.v. character, may I present to you.....drum roll please....
Colonel Flagg!
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
There we go, a nice juicy hole that I can stick my finger in....just need to dig around for a moment with this pair of tweezers...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddd....viola!
Empty.
Not so much in the physical or emotional sense, although I am going through a little bit of each at the moment, but more in the mental sense.
What I mean by "mental" is that after 774 posts spanning from Memorial Day weekend 2008 through the 364th day of 2011, I find myself in the unenviable position of having absolutely nothing to blog about. In other words, empty.
Through the course of 774 posts I managed to talk about all kinds of things that sprung from three basic topics: writing, my life, and work. You name it, I blogged about it.
Writing? Sure 'nuff. Even started a short story blog that ran for a little over a year that featured short stories. Getting published? Absolutely. Even created a page to showcase the trials and tribulations of trying to land either a publisher or an agent. Self-publishing? You betcha. Even wrote a story serial about publishing my chapbook.
My life? Beyond a shadow of a doubt. You name it, I shared about 95% of my life on this blog, with the remaining 5% safely tucked away to be shared behind the scenes with family and friends. I wrote about makes me tick, my health, what I like to read, what I like to listen to for music, my friends and work. Good lord, did I ever write about work in those early years. However, as things got progressively strained at work, discretion became the operative word of the day and gradually I stopped writing about work.
Even wrote about my adventures with the Internet. Mostly wrote about the chat rooms, in which what you see now was partially shaped and nurtured by the ultimate 9 circles of private hell that I consider the chat rooms now to be. Did write about other things related to the 'net, like Facebook (being banned from a business page and eventually dropping out due to privacy concerns) and e-mail (oh man, did I ever write a classic about Hotmail customer service) and blogs.
Blogs. Man did I ever go to town writing about all kinds of blogs. You name it, I probably blogged about it. From censorship to blogs on life support/pushing up the daisies and everything else in between.
Sigh.
I think that I can safely assume that I'm at a crossroad with my blogging. Over the years, I managed to tweak the frequency of my blog posts, from twice a day every other day, to once a day every other day, to simply three times a week. This was done strictly for the purpose of preventing blogging burnout, and for the most part it worked. Until now.
Now is wondering what I should do next? I enjoy blogging, but coming up with original material is becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish. Should I cut down on the frequency of posting, say from three times a week to twice? I don't think that would work. As most of you know, I've spent a good chunk of time trying to build this blog into something that people would like to continuously read on a weekly basis, and the thought of cutting down on my posting bothers me, simply because I don't like to disappoint people. Or, should I convert this blog into something that I personally abhor, which is posting no original material of any consequence and simply post articles from news websites (please note that I am not including those blogs in which the blogger is using it as an effective and user friendly marketing tool for their work)?
For the first time as a blogger, I am genuinely unsure on what to do with my blog. So for this long holiday weekend, I will be spending a good portion of my down time trying to answer the question: what should I do next?
Hopefully, I'll come up with an answer that not only solves my problem, but one that I and everyone else can live with.
Friday, December 30, 2011
21 comments:
Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.
About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.
So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.
G. B. Miller
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You and me. For whatever reason the past month I look at the paper and can't come up with a single cartoon gag to draw. Where I used to be able to come up with 20. Maybe we both need a break.
ReplyDeleteI've cut back to three times a week on my blog, sometimes only twice, and so far I haven't seen a big drop off in comments. I too sort of ran out of things to say, or primarily I was blogging faster than my well had time to fill up. Now it seems to run more smoothly for me.
ReplyDeleteNo no - I don't think that recycling news from other websites sounds like you. Why don't you keep posting about your writing, reading, music, family - it's always enjoyable, G.
ReplyDeleteWhat should you do next? have fun!!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
xo
Bearman: That's interesting. I would figure that the last thing a cartoonist would have would be a visual block. That sounds a lot worse than a straight writer's block.
ReplyDeleteCharles: I've seen a slow and steady decline of comments as well as a slow and steady decline of daily visitors on my blog. I'm not sure if its because people have less free time to spend or have more stress going on, but whatever the reason, it sure puts a damper on the enthusiam for blogging.
Lynn: The the unfortunate problem with that is I'm running out new things to write about as it applies to those topics and the last thing I want to do is become redundant with my musings.
Jannie: Having fun is easier said than done.
But have a Happy New Year just the same. :D
My take is that there is always something to rant or laugh about, thus always something to blog about. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteR: True, but sometimes what you want to rant about, you can't unless you want to become gainfully unemployed.
ReplyDeleteLaughing is something else all together.
And a very Happy New Year to you as well.
Right now I'm struggling to find something to blog about even once a month. Oh, there's no shortage of things in my areas of interest to write about but it all seems to get so repetitive, ya know? So, I've been kind of taking a break. Maybe you should, as well. Maintaining a blogging schedule just to maintain a blogging schedule is kind of a creativity killer to me. I do find that stepping away from something for a while helps get the brain more organized.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, have a great new year my friend.
Happy New Year to you my friend.
ReplyDeleteYou know, sometimes I view my blog reading as stopping by a friend's house, having a cup of tea or iced water with them and just catching up on what is going on in their life. I listen, I read and I share in THEIR STORY. It doesn't have to be earth shattering, it doesn't have to please the next person that stops by but I am glad to visit with you and again, hear your story.
So, from a friend and blog neighbor, don't hang up a NOBODY HOME sign, don't tell me we can't have tea time together while I read about what is going on in your life. It would make me sad.
:)Bea Dogintheholestudio.com
Gumby: I've been thinking about that very thing all this weekend. It's not so much as maintaining a blogging schedule, but more like a mixture of getting repetitive; no new ideas to write about and the real world bleeding through to mess things up.
ReplyDeleteMotivation is the key and I'm not feeling it at the moment.
Thanks, and you have a fantastic one as well.
Bea: I thank you for stopping by today offer your five cents (two cents adjusted for inflation) on my predicament, for really, that is what it boils down to.
At this point, I'm not sure what the final outcome is going to be, but I will try to make as painless as possible.
I'm sort of a "blog by the seat of your pants" kind of blogger. :) I really NEVER have anything planned (which is why my posts are so random and sporadic), and just hope that inspiration will hit me. I've tried, over the years, to worry less about those moments when writer's block inevitably strikes, and just have faith that something will shake me out of it after a while. But my flighty methods probably don't appeal to everyone. ;) I hope you find something that works for you!
ReplyDeleteI wish you a very happy 2012!! :)
Take a break, G. Reflect, refresh and recharge.
ReplyDeleteI wish you and your family a beautiful New Year!
Lisa: I think that "flighty" is probably the only word in the thesaurus that no one would use to describe you as a person or as a blogger.
ReplyDeleteI think I used to do that early on in my blogging life, but I quickly realized that I'm the type of person that really needs a basic structure in order to do things.
I hope that you and yours have a great New Years as well.
Talon: I'm leaning towards that, since the outside world is starting to bleed into my blogging world, although blogging has been one of the best release valves for what ails me.
I thank you for the wishes and I hope that 2012 is better for you than 2011 was.
G: Good point!
ReplyDeleteR: Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have those every once in a blue moon.
I had to cut the Blogger back because of the writing and editing chores. (I found Twitter to be just a little bit easier.) But in '12 I've made a promise to add a little more depth back into my Blogger posts.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, G.
David: Makes sense. Something usually has to give when you're doing important career-wise, and I agree that Twitter is definitely easier and less time consuming that doing a blog.
ReplyDeleteHope you and yours has a Happy New Years as well.
Sorry I'm late to this G, I haven't been visiting all my favourite blogs so much over the holiday due to family commitments.
ReplyDeleteI've been going through a serious case of writers block too, so I just cut back on how often I blogged with the hope that inspiration would hit me again, and to a certain extent it has.
I think that there is ALWAYS something to blog about, it's just that sometimes we can't get our acts together to formulate the words to write a good post.
I'm sure you'll be firing on all cylinders again soon!
Joe: That last paragraph exactly describes how my blogging has been as of late.
ReplyDeleteToo often I found myself struggling not only to find the right words, but to get my act together, all at the same time.
Tricky G. I agree with several other commentators that inflicting a tight schedule on yourself could be counter-productive - although I do understand why you feel you might need to impose such a routine on yourself.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should drop down to one post for a few weeks and take the pressure of yourself. Maybe then the ideas would start to flow again?
I wouldn't worry about stats dropping off - I think there's a huge amount of blogging burnout at the moment especially with so many turning to Twitter for the buzz of instant communication. Twitter won't leave anything real or solid though- your blog will:)
Jane: I've dropped down to two posts per week now, just so I can both get caught up with myself as it applies to writing and get motivated again for blogging.
ReplyDeleteI figure once things calm down a bit and I concentrate more on my writing, the blogging will eventually catch back up with me again.