Why Do It?

I was recently asked how I find the time, ideas and motivation to write my blog every week and what was the hardest part? Without being blasé about the whole process my answer regarding the hardest part was certainly the first 100 blogs. I started out with a flurry of ideas and opinions that I wanted to write about and I burned through that list pretty quickly and then came to a screeching halt, thinking I was going to run out of ideas and it would all just be a "flash in the pan" idea.

With 100 in the rearview mirror I still have those thoughts but people, media and events continue to provide ideas and opinions. I do have to discipline myself to the decision of twice a week entries and to jot down ideas and thoughts for future blogs but it's a very personal discipline as I write for myself as much as for the couple of people ( thanks Mum ) who actually read my thoughts. I have never bothered to attach a Google analytics measurement to the blog, initially because it was too difficult to figure out how to put it into the system and in the end because I was writing for myself as much as anyone who wanted to listen, so the numbers don't really count.

I have no idea what my end objective for the blog is, other than to enjoy the writing experience, relate to the occasional comment on my thinking and that it makes me feel like I'm contributing to whatever this online community will eventually turn into. As with the analytics decision I don't plan to add any commercial context in the form of advertising or external commentary other than other bloggers I may admire ( consider Kurt Knackstedt, Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Peters ). Any advertising I chose could lessen credibility about the things I write on, especially if it was inappropriate and people would see the blog as a revenue stream enabled by headline grabbing articles.

Many blog sites have specific niche targets, audiences and views to keep them highly opinionated, controversial and certainly attractive to advertisers but I would prefer to keep the mood lighter and upbeat while trying to engage in conversations rather than one way diatribes on what someone may consider the latest crisis. One of the big things I've learnt, while writing over the past year or so is to give people even more benefit of the doubt and not always believe what you read. Having been on the wrong side of incorrect tabloid news it's too easy to slant a message and as we all know, the net never forgets, so it is better to take the high road and take into account as many sides as required to stay on the straight.

I know a lot of blogging has been micro-ised and Facebooked with people preferring to say it with symbols or less than 140 characters but I believe there will always be people ready to read stories if they are written with honesty and feeling. I believe information and data in itself can be boring and hard to digest and remember, but when told in the context of a story it can become unforgettable.

So I'll continue to write as long as I enjoy it, have something to say without shouting and hopefully have some readers to take along with me. Thanks again Mum. See if you can't get Dad to have a read, could double my readership.