The frequency of my blogging is intimately connected to what happenings I have going on in my life. Which is to be more expected, that when there is a lot going on I have more to write about or that when there isn't a lot going on I have time to write? The two are mutually exclusive and yet inexorably linked. I created this blog at a point where I was very secure in my job, I knew what I was doing, what was expected of me, and what would be going on the next day, week, month, etc. Then four months into it things changed. Having revealed that I knew what was going on as well as demonstrating that I knew how to do more, it was clear that I was coasting. That's when challenges appear. I was offered an opportunity to move to a new office where they needed someone to do what I was doing, but also where there was a long-time employee who had been on the verge of retiring for 2 and a half years. This meant that I would have a chance to not only do my job, but to learn parts of his job so that when (if) he retires there would be not only an open position, but someone who knows how to fill that position.
This was not to say that I was sent here to take his job. Not to say that I was sent here so that when he retires his job would be mine. And not to say that I accepted the challenge so that I would get his job.
Of course those were the reasons, but no one could say that. I can't expect anyone to say that, and if anyone did I wouldn't believe them because they can't say that. Clear as mud?
The Catch-22 was bad enough, that when lots of things are going on there are lots of things to write about but no time to write or the converse that when nothing is going on there is nothing to write but plenty of time to do it in, but the reality of it is even harder. There's always something to do and I'm usually not in the right place to do it. My young bride is trying to raise two teens and a toddler while balancing the normal housework load, her job, plus repairs, not to mention the constant Mom's Taxi service she runs. I am constantly on the go between home, my other home, my office, my field office, trying to complete some online training needed for certifications I need in order to get up to the next level at work, trying to do what repairs I can at home when I'm there, at my Dad's when I'm there, and still needing to work on both my wife's van and my truck. Is it any wonder the blogging has fallen off in the last six months? Not to me.
Now, I do still have lots to say. I have lots of draft posts, some are even partly typed. When I do get (or force myself to find) time to write I notice an increase in site visits (as expected). I have even been able to do a few things I learned early on in my blogging to attract lots of additional attention to my blog. But the elusiveness of regularity is working against me in building the blog. I want my posts to be spot on powerful pieces of writing and would settle for sporadic. There is a blog I follow that is someone in Africa. Her posts are infrequent, yet when they appear they are powerful reminders. It is a matter of quality posts versus quantity of posts.
Blogging is supposed to be a conversation, a two-way street. I follow one blogger who doesn't allow comments. Another allows comments but neither sorts through the comments to take out the spam nor comments back that I've seen. A blogger I learned a lot from, and continue to learn from has a great mix of commenting, sorting comments, quantity and quality, plus I've found that by commenting on his site it can really drive up traffic to mine. At the risk of running a thought into the ground, or maybe just stretching it out, there is another blogger I have never met but enjoy reading with a good mix of those things that is quite enjoyable to read. Even he has a consistency to his posts that allow for the quality to come out from time to time.
The problem is that flashpan quality is achievable, but not likely. Steady production can achieve quality with quantity, but takes more than we sometimes have to offer. My point today wasn't to talk about blogging. Blogging is the vessel that describes the concept today. I may not have gotten the quality of post I wanted. I may have not gotten the quantity of posts I wanted. As long as I got the point across, this was a successful article.
I welcome comments, not only to this thought, but just to see if anyone's listening. ~
~~~~~~~~~~