On Blogging

You ever find yourself writing a blog post or a journal entry and then realize half-way through that it's complete drivel?  That's what happened to me on this post--I  found myself falling in love with the sound of my own typing, and spewing forth nonsensical rhetoric that was irrelevant, just for the sake of making a blog post.  And that frustrates me.

Blog posts worry me a bit.  I find myself constantly weighing the "need" to make a post versus my ability to bore readers silly.  I often think about what makes a good post, why I post at all, and whether it means something to anyone.  I ponder the big "why" question a lot.

I know why blogs are necessary, especially when you're doing anything creative nowadays.  I see that.  At least I'm told they are, constantly, by experts and successful artists with more experience with their own blogs.  It's one of the best ways to get your work seen,  and therefore connect with your clients.  It's a tool I have at my disposal that artists didn't have even 10 years ago.  It's a great way to share insight, the creative process, and endear one's audience to one's projects and creative output...  I could make a litany of all the reasons I've read.

But it's still hard to write these things without coming across as inauthentic.  I thought I was an adequate writer--heck, I spent years grading major papers as a college instructor!  But I've still psyched myself out of many, many blog posts that I could have written, and conversely posted way too many that I probably shouldn't have even postulated.  I'm trying really hard to not to buckle under pressure and fall into the trap of posting for the sake of posting, or writing to maintain a readership.

I feel very strongly that there is a difference between "promoting" one's self and "sharing" one's self.  I don't ever want to post anything for the sake of not losing readership, because that's the quickest path to irrelevancy.  And ultimately, why worry about it?  I would be shocked out of my gourd if this blog has actually led to sales of any kind for my business.  No, this blog has to be about something deeper, otherwise it degenerates to glorified advertising, and I might as well take out an ad on Facebook.

Speaking of which, I've also tried to abstain from using my personal Facebook page to promote my projects...  "Look at me!  Look at me!" is what I'm trying to avoid desperately.  I can't just put something out there and expect sales--there has to be a reason for people to pay attention.  My creativity has to be relevant to them.  My biggest fear is that my Facebook friends should feel, "Why should I care?  Oh, look--he's being creative.  How cute!"

So to alleviate some of my frustration, I need to tell you that I may not post as frequently as other bloggers do because I really want to think about what I'm posting.   It takes me a bit to figure out what I want to say in a concise way, what I want to share that I think is interesting or important or worth your time, or what I want to point to and say, "Hey, this is really cool!  Check this out!"  I've got a lot of work to create, a lot of reading to do, and a lot of time to invest in my livelihood.  And I'll keep you posted.

Until next time, Live Life with Relish!




Top image by TheRealDavidFrancis via Flickr.  Creative Commons License.
Lower image by Mark Ramsay via Flickr.  Creative Commons License.