It’s been a while since I was really happy about anything that I wrote on my blog. And the urge to put thoughts down about a topic and dash a blog post has died down of late. Was it about dearth of topics to write about? Not really. But of late, it’s getting difficult to find the time & motivation to write a blog post. More often than not, when I see, read or think of something I want to share, what comes to mind is Twitter. Not that I am able to tweet about all the things I want because of work and other compulsions.
The blogs I have come across are of two kinds: ones that report and offer a view on current affairs (in their domain – be it advertising, digital or tech) and ones that present concepts & ideas that make you think, enrich you. For the former, Twitter seems like a good option: great for pithy expressions, rants, opinions, fun conversations. But when I want to share something I feel strongly about, I would prefer writing a blog post. But finding time, figuring out the right title, formatting the post, worrying about meta keywords, promoting the post and hoping for comments – all of it is too much hard work. Options like Posterous which claims ‘easy as sending an email’ as its USP, only makes sharing stuff easy.
I am not comparing my blog to any of the ‘higher thinking’ blogs but just finding it increasingly difficult to offer a fresh perspective on things that interest me or my handful of readers, on a regular basis. It isn’t just about jotting down your ‘seat of the pants’ thoughts. Finding a subject that would have broad appeal, putting your thoughts down in a cogent manner, building up a case and packaging it all well takes its toll. It may be ok for blogs backed up by media companies that have an army of writers, but for personal bloggers it is way too much hard work that may not be worth it. Especially if you value site traffic, comments and so on. It’s better to use the phone, tweet and be done with it.
But the satisfaction of writing a blog post that you are even half-way happy with, makes the slogging worth it. Comments, re-tweets and page views be damned. How long this urge to blog lasts remains to be seen.
4 Comments
Hi
sad to hear that. pls don't kill it. I think often we get too much bothered about ranking, readers, adsense etc that the basic purpose of starting the blog in the first place often takes the backseat. I started writing blogs because I wanted to share my thoughts and built my presence in the web and also for the pure thrill of it. I think u should write for the pure thrill of it ! don't worry abt other stuff.
a big fan
Harish, much appreciated! I admire your diligence in building your blog over such a long period of time.
I am with you. If I may share something from the past. I argued with a friend saying I was bored of blogging and I don't think any of my readers cared whether I updated or no. he just said one thing – u r not a publication or a corporate where u write for others. if there is anything about personal blogging its about the 'personal' in it. so write because you want to express not because u should be read. And if I may throw away modesty for a bit – My personal blog has sometimes been the topic of conversation with a lot of family and friends who I didn't know are followers. So it feels nice at those moments.
and i always like what ShahRukh Khan says – "My goal in life is to do good work – money and fame are what comes because of the good work. I don't work for the money or fame. "
And with that in mind I blog when I have something to share and needs a full post or else like u mentioned tweets and posterous do the bit.
So here's to an enriching blogging experience.
Agree! Sometimes, I am introduced as 'meet Bhatnaturally'! And when I meet readers of my blog at unexpected places – client offices, interviews it is a high.