Once again I have recognized how difficult it is to consistently maintain a blog. And here I am writing a rather indulgent piece on “oh poor me, this is sooo hard”. I realize that I don’t have to do this at all. Having a blog is not a necessary element of my life by any means. And you the reader certainly have better things to do than listen to me whine about not knowing what to write. (oooops, there I go making the cardinal mistake of chasing away my potential audience). If you will indulge me for just a bit I hope I won’t disappoint you with this entry and I think you’ll find something worthwhile by the time it’s finished.
The trickiest thing about keeping a blog like this is figuring out what shape it wants to be. As some would say it’s the challenge of “finding my voice”. And I suppose that search is exactly why I’m interested in keeping a blog like this to begin with. I’m not a professional writer but I do seem to have at least somewhat of a facility with words and it’s a skill I’m interested in honing. My hope, as is the hope of any writer, is that there will be some who find reading what I write worthwhile.
As I play with the form in front of me I’ve spent some time considering what kinds of blogs are out there already and whether I could or even want to write in those veins. In the process I’ve learned what I do not want to do. I don’t want to merely use this space and your time to regurgitate the writings of others by having a long list of links to other blog postings that catch my eye. Though I may choose to do this from time to time. I don’t want to create yet another space on the net for snarky cultural commentary. Snarkiness has it’s place, but not in my brain. I’m not naturally snarky and I don’t particularly care to learn how to be more cynical. These days I have a hard enough time fighting off creeping cynicism as it is. I don’t have the technical expertise to turn this into a critique of gadgetry nor do I have the right connections turn this into a tome of political analysis and I’m not a mommy so I can’t sit here and write about the trials and tribulations of motherhood. Finally, the net does not need yet another blog about GTD/Productivity/Lifehacks. Lord knows I have too much to learn in those catagories to be spouting advice about it.
One of the skills I do have is that I’m good at, and enjoy, observing the world around us and asking questions. I must’ve been a student of Socrates in another lifetime. I hope by sharing my observations and raising questions that every now and then at least I’ll be able to get you to consider, if even for a moment, another perspective on the world we share. There’s a part of me that’s a sculptor at heart and as such appreciates the need to look at things from a variety of angles to build an accurate model, even if that model is purely imaginary.
