As a blogger you can talk about SEO, feedburner statistics and wordpress plugin strategies all you like, but there are very few advice columns on the human element of blogging. You know the human element, like that commercial on TV.
The writing is often stale, boring and sometimes downright painful because you know the person has nothing better to do with their time. It’s a mix of politics, blog culture and internet flames but at the end of the day even the most successful people don’t even want to deal with the culture and yet there are people who love it.
I think perhaps Scrivs from 9rules hits the mallet on the pogo stick in a recent post in which he says that the reason why people love the internet so much is because “they can pretend to be somebody they are not or maybe they get to connect with other geeks like themselves”. AKA some people take the web a little bit too seriously.
Personally as a writer, I would not find things to write about if I simply hung out on the web or went to the same places time after time. Is eating at the same pizza restaurant ever satisfying? No and to be honest it would be downright depressing.
Because in the end blogging is only a supplement to life and to be perfectly honest, if you don’t have much of a life outside of the internet, chances are that you won’t have much of a blogging life on the internet.
Here’s my advice: go to the beach, meet new people, by golly eat a hot dog / cheesesteak. And when you’re done come back to your computer and voila! You might find that you have something to blog about. And if not at least you had fun.
Great advice.
Glad you liked it Scrivs.
Dammit, Michael, now I want pizza.
I don’t even like cheesesteak. Wait is that even how you spell it?
Wikipedia thinks it’s one word.
“Is eating at the same pizza restaurant ever satisfying? No and to be honest it would be downright depressing.”
wow. obviously someone who’s never eaten at Sally’s in New Haven
“The writing is often stale, boring and sometimes downright painful because you know the person has nothing better to do with their time.”
Sadly I’ve observed this fact more than I ever imagined it would.
Also it’s so funny seeing how people can get so offended when confronted with some critisism. A general rule of thumb would be, if you don’t have a skin having a width at least as much as a random pig out there please don’t get connected. Let alone blog.
“… perfectly honest, if you don’t have much of a life outside of the internet, chances are that you won’t have much of a blogging life on the internet.”
I disagree. I’ve seen far too many people blogging about various stuff even though they don’t quite have a “real life”. YMMV.
Michael, Lots of good advice here. The best writing comes from people who are good observers. That doesn’t mean you have to be out running a corporation or a marathon. It just means you have to pay attention to the world around you! Thanks for this post.
Good post. Atleast people trying hard to write something on the blogs would know what to do now
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I guess blogging is like sleeping.. you try hard to sleep and you never feel sleepy and you try reading/doing something and instantly you feel drowsy.
I love the last paragraph here. I guess if you have nothing to write about, you should make something…
-Zack
100% de acuerdo. / 100% agree.
Absolutely good advice.
Though I’d be wary of blogging about cheesesteaks and hot dogs, I think they’ve been done to death.
Hi Michael,
Good Advice and very well written too. As a writer I have faced what is commonly known as writers block but then there is so much happening in and around my country that I dont know what to write on and what to leave.
Anyway a good read.
I think it’s true that there is a danger in using blogging in particular and the Internet in general as an excuse to stay locked up in one’s own familiar little corner. I think probably most of us go through that from time to time, I know I have. But I think one can only run out of things to blog about if one’s blog is only concerned with the narrow scope of one’s own life, be it rich and full (but by whose standards?) or cavernously empty. If you look around the world or even just your hometown you’ll see plenty worth noticing, much of which might not involve you or your eating habits directly. Discussing these things, these issues, is part of the power of blogging. We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg now. Much of what you might call politics are life and death issues right now for someone, somewhere in the world who might appreciate your thoughts on them. So while it’s important to acknowledge the risks, I think it’s at least equally as important to acknowledge the immense collective power of the blogosphere, and, as centralized corporate control of mass media continues its march towards a singularity, I think that power will increase over time. My words alone may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but the organization of the blogging world is not hierarchical, so it’s really of little consequence. What matters is that we participate responsibly without forgetting to walk the dog or visit our friends.
Very thought-provoking post. Thank you!
Ack I’m back. I’m glad that everyone is finding this useful. Gosh I’m kind of tired now.
Great advice, as new bloger, my approach was to write about anything and everything that surrounds my world, my thoughts and experiences. I feel that with whatever you write, there is someone out there who will appreciate it. Let’s not forget that the online world is a big space with unlimited potential…
Just to let you know, I quoted this entry in my last blog entry at http://thelong.wordpress.com/
By the way, did you know that both “wordpress” and “blogging” get flagged in the spellchecker on wordpress.
That cracks me up! I think blog gets flagged too. Nice blog by the way, paxrock! I liked your photo essay on what’s been on your mind.
Thanks, feel free to visit anytime.
Straight from the heart. And quite true.
Go out and DO things? Whatever is that? Okay, I kid. Yes, I do find myself parked in front of my laptop very often, but I do get out and do things. Although, getting out and doing things on a college campus is slightly hard…