Many years ago I kept a private journal, then my hard drive died. At that point I was deeply involved in building internet software at a big tech company. Blogs were beginning to be a thing. Rather than start a new journal on the new hard drive, I decided to make a blog, this blog. In a fit of madness I it public.
My rules of thumb for this blog... I see they are more aspirational than rigorously enforced...
First and foremost, this blog is for me and to remind me of what I once did and what I was thinking of at that time.
Second, lead with the facts and the present. I want this blog to be centered around what I am actually doing in my life on that week. I don’t want to run on and on with future plans or a rehash of past memories.
Third, stay away from speculation, gossip and venting. This can be very hard to do when I need to provide context for how I’m thinking things through.
Over time I’ve added a fourth rule-- this is not Facebook. I don’t want to share low-effort posts for the likes and smilies.
I want these posts to be valuable, at least to me. In return I put that effort into other blogs, especially those of bloggers that read mine. I will read them thoughtfully. I will stay caught up.
I want these posts to be valuable, at least to me. In return I put that effort into other blogs, especially those of bloggers that read mine. I will read them thoughtfully. I will stay caught up.
I’ve also discovered that I enjoy writing. Now that I have more time, I’m putting more effort into that. I still want the blog to be a record of my life, so I am thinking about alternating posting styles, with some posts being just an outline of my life events, interleaved with longer essays.
2 comments:
I commend you on a thoughtful, expressive entry. I look forward to reading, as I have done over the many years I have followed your blog. I appreciate the connectivity that bonds folks in different ways.
25 years! That’s a huge achievement. Good on you for keeping it up as long as you have. I like your rules of thumb. I’ve come to similar conclusions over the years, though some took longer than others.
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