This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz
by James Robertson.
Original Post: Blogger's Block?
Feed Title: Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants
Feed URL: http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/rssBlog/rssBlogView.xml
Feed Description: James Robertson comments on Cincom Smalltalk, the Smalltalk development community, and IT trends and issues in general.
I've had blogger's block lately. As more people read my blog, I realize that I am writing for larger and larger audience. Just about every time I post something, I get thoughtful comments and email from a variety of perspectives. I realize that post early/post often is probably the best policy for blogging, but the rigor in which entries are discussed and the increasing percentage of people who I meet who have read my blog cause me to try to blog about things which interesting yet not something where I'm not likely to have to spend a lot of time defending myself. The fact is, I'm becoming more and more conservative about what I blog.
I know my audience is much smaller than Joi's, but I know what he's talking about - sometimes, it seems that there's too much information, and it's very hard to express anything coherent about it. On the other hand, there are days when it all just flows easily. I do think my writing is getting better; blogging has given me the opportunity to write on a regular basis. Like anything else, you simply get better with practice. For that matter, my typing is improving as well. I still don't really touch type, but it's getting closer
On the other hand, I worry a lot less about this:
he problem with many blogs is that the audience includes so many different communities of people that it collapses the facets of one's identity and requires you to choose a rather shallow facet which becomes your public identity. For instance, I know that people in the US State Department, friends from my Chicago DJ days, my employees, my family, thoughtful conservatives from Texas, cypherpunk friends, foreign intelligence officers, Japanese business associates and close friends all read my blog occasionally. In real life, I present a very different facet of my identity to these different communities, but on my blog I have to imagine how all of them will react as a craft these entries.
Ultimately, I write about things that interest me. Sometimes, other people are interested as well, and they comment - either here, on their own blog, or in email. I can't really try to write for anyone else; either what I write is interesting enough to read or it isn't. I can't really make that call. I'm not really worried about a public/private persona thing either - I purposely limit the topics I post on here. I don't engage in conversations about (electoral) politics, for instance. Why? I do this primarily to promote Smalltalk, and to comment on topics of interest (to me) in the IT sector. This is all about focus; if I started spouting my political philosophy (such as it is), I'd likely offend a number of people who would otherwise visit for news on Smalltalk. It's enough that I generate the occasional tempest in a teapot over static/dynamic typing issues.
Writing a blog is just like any other kind of writing - you have to decide what topic or topics you want to cover, and in what depth. Cover too wide a range, and you may not have enough focus to attract readers. Cover too narrow a range and you may only summon a tiny niche. It's not an easy thing, and I can't say that I really planned any of this out at the beginning. I started this blog as an experiment, and I've been very happy with how it's turned out. Ymmv.
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