It's blogging, but not as we know it.
Operation: New Blog Order is well underway and as the first post in this oh so special series today I'm going to write briefly about the New Years resolutions I made about my blogging. These will form the New Blog Order Manifesto, a blueprint of the New Blog Order that will rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes of this now burnt-out hub of a blog.
Now previously I had, with all the best will in the world, endeavoured to post daily, or if not daily, every other day, but regular readers (hah, what readers?!) will know I sometimes got snowed under with a backlog of blog posts to edit. So my first resolution and the first clause in the New Blog Order manifesto is that whilst I will still hold back drafts for editing, I won't allow editing to hold up a post. All posts will go up within 24 hours of being first drafted, without fail, even if the quality suffers marginally (let's face it, they're never that good to begin with!). Not only will this ensure a regular stream of content, but in a way, less editing makes the content fresher and more raw.
Clause Two is closely related. When I began blogging I spent a fair old amount of time surfing other blogs, reading a lot of content and being inspired and entertained. Recently this has lapsed and did create a situation whereby I was lacking inspiration, and looking back over recent posts, I think this has become apparent. I think some of the posts, whilst decent, lacked that spark that others had, those that were actually inspired. So I will ensure that I dedicate an allotted amount of time every day to reading other blogs, and ensuring I keep "current" with some of my favourite blogs that I've not actually checked recently (oh woe is me!).
However this time will not be merely "reading" time. I will be timetabling my evenings a little more, plotting out my commitments and working out exactly how much time I have after taking out time for my girlfriend, dinner and other essentials. I will then allocate a set amount of time, half of which will be spent reading other blogs, half of which blogging. So within the New Blog Order manifesto, Clause Two will have a sub-paragraph two, requiring me to dedicate time every day to trying to produce some content. And not just any content, noooo, interesting content. Ok, semi-interesting content. Ok, fine, boring, but regular, content.
Content is a curious thing (it makes one man weep, makes another man sing). Trying to ensure a regular stream is important, but at the same time, the quality has to follow too. I think I've gotten too wrapped up, and perhaps to an extent this is born out of being "typecast" by early posts, in trying to develop long posts, and so the content has tended to be a topic that I can actually write a lot about.
The problem is, the more you write, the longer it takes to read it, the easier it is for someone to be put off. Worse yet, if you write all your thoughts, you leave yourself little to explore another time. So as part of my commitment to trying to product content every day, I will also endeavour for this content to be "fresh". I won't always look to write a lot, but always will look to write something inspired, be it long or short. A short but sparky blog post is far more fascinating than a long windy but dull post.
So to summarise, this is the New Blog Order Manifesto as it currently stands:
CL 1: Blog drafts to go up within 24 hours. If possible, avoiding editing at all.
CL 2(1): Dedicated blog reading time (use for pleasure and inspiration)
CL 2(2): Dedicated blogging time (aim for a post a day if possible)
CL 3: Quality of content over quantity. Keep content fresh, don't get bogged down with size or quantity, focus on being inspired.
If anyone, upon reading this, has any other suggestions that I should add to my New Years Blog Resolutions, and ultimately to the New Blog Order Manifesto, please share them!
Now previously I had, with all the best will in the world, endeavoured to post daily, or if not daily, every other day, but regular readers (hah, what readers?!) will know I sometimes got snowed under with a backlog of blog posts to edit. So my first resolution and the first clause in the New Blog Order manifesto is that whilst I will still hold back drafts for editing, I won't allow editing to hold up a post. All posts will go up within 24 hours of being first drafted, without fail, even if the quality suffers marginally (let's face it, they're never that good to begin with!). Not only will this ensure a regular stream of content, but in a way, less editing makes the content fresher and more raw.
Clause Two is closely related. When I began blogging I spent a fair old amount of time surfing other blogs, reading a lot of content and being inspired and entertained. Recently this has lapsed and did create a situation whereby I was lacking inspiration, and looking back over recent posts, I think this has become apparent. I think some of the posts, whilst decent, lacked that spark that others had, those that were actually inspired. So I will ensure that I dedicate an allotted amount of time every day to reading other blogs, and ensuring I keep "current" with some of my favourite blogs that I've not actually checked recently (oh woe is me!).
However this time will not be merely "reading" time. I will be timetabling my evenings a little more, plotting out my commitments and working out exactly how much time I have after taking out time for my girlfriend, dinner and other essentials. I will then allocate a set amount of time, half of which will be spent reading other blogs, half of which blogging. So within the New Blog Order manifesto, Clause Two will have a sub-paragraph two, requiring me to dedicate time every day to trying to produce some content. And not just any content, noooo, interesting content. Ok, semi-interesting content. Ok, fine, boring, but regular, content.
Content is a curious thing (it makes one man weep, makes another man sing). Trying to ensure a regular stream is important, but at the same time, the quality has to follow too. I think I've gotten too wrapped up, and perhaps to an extent this is born out of being "typecast" by early posts, in trying to develop long posts, and so the content has tended to be a topic that I can actually write a lot about.
The problem is, the more you write, the longer it takes to read it, the easier it is for someone to be put off. Worse yet, if you write all your thoughts, you leave yourself little to explore another time. So as part of my commitment to trying to product content every day, I will also endeavour for this content to be "fresh". I won't always look to write a lot, but always will look to write something inspired, be it long or short. A short but sparky blog post is far more fascinating than a long windy but dull post.
So to summarise, this is the New Blog Order Manifesto as it currently stands:
CL 1: Blog drafts to go up within 24 hours. If possible, avoiding editing at all.
CL 2(1): Dedicated blog reading time (use for pleasure and inspiration)
CL 2(2): Dedicated blogging time (aim for a post a day if possible)
CL 3: Quality of content over quantity. Keep content fresh, don't get bogged down with size or quantity, focus on being inspired.
If anyone, upon reading this, has any other suggestions that I should add to my New Years Blog Resolutions, and ultimately to the New Blog Order Manifesto, please share them!
posted by Jesus Of Suburbia at 11:34
4 Comments:
I think it makes very good sense to have a working "manifesto." Mine's a little different (and not posted anywhere), but I keep the working model in mind at all times.
My own blog takes a somewhat different strategy to the timing of posts due to the fact I want more polish than rawness in what I do. I prefer to sit on my posts long enough to let them cool down prior to posting (which I can get away with, since my stuff is not very time-sensitive).
As I write new stuff, I put it in a queue for future release, so I keep a constant backlog of material. Before it goes live, I give it one last look to tighten up the writing further.
If I find myself with something time-sensitive, I can always bend the rules and post it ahead of the queue.
Of course, I like to edit my stuff heavily, which is a bit different from what you seem to have in mind for your blog.
Well my hope is that if I can build a cache of material then I can edit it more heavily, what I didn't want was the editing holding up regular updates. I found myself being very irregular with the updates.
I might attempt to do what you do and build a wealth of material so that I'm not left with a dead blog for a long time as has happened to me before.
I asume that you don't have anything else to do?
Never assume anything.
The truth is if you actually read the rest of the content you'd see that I'm moving the blog to a new location. As part of this it'd be bloody stupid of me to waste good content on my old site.
But more crucially, I'm focussed on turning this blog, until the new one is created, into a blog of the creation of the new blog. At the moment work on it is stagnated due to the issue of choosing a new name (as this will impact the art work for it).
If only people actually ever read the entire blog before posting derogatory comments...
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