The price of praise

Hube was kind enough to not only link to my site but give it a favorable review for layout and content. The layout part I agree with as I didn't create it, I simply picked it. It also wasn't my first choice. Earlier incarnations were harder to read and I was trying to do something with some flash (nb: not Flash, but flash) and decided I ought to concern myself with content over style. (I'm not entirely sure I've achieved that goal either but I digress).

Initially, I was writing about matters more personal. That is, what was going on in my personal life and so on. The intent was to give the address to the far flung friends. I'm not keen on widespread blast emails that read like a family letter at Christmas. Rather, it was intended to be a day to day thing about raising kids and being the IT serf. When I started getting emails and comments from people I didn't know, I put the brakes on that one and made it more an opinion/commentary column. I still don't get any traffic even though I've potentially broadened my appeal. If you look at my sitemeter for any period since I've started this blog you'll find more zeroes than on Bill Gates' bank account.

When I read Hube's comment that I "may be Delaware's most underrated blogger" I groaned. Oh great, now the pressure to produce something beyond the festering crap I've been posting has increased tenfold. Those guys get more traffic on a single post than I get on my entire blog! Mostly my writing is done in small doses while I've tied up my other apps with large jobs that take a few minutes (or more) to run. That means most everything is written in a single draft (something I hate doing). That doesn't mean that rewrites necessarily improve what I write, but at least I'd feel better about posting it. For me, the problem with blogging is that I can't write like this guy, and certainly not this one. I don't even know that what I have to say is either new or interesting. The only unique thing I can bring to this blog would be my personal stories or anecdotes. Some of which are potentially interesting while others are probably only interesting to me. The bloggers dilemma. I also feel like I tend to retread the same points again and again as the news cycle to bring the same issues to the fore again and again. Taxes go up and down, the war goes on, politicians do bad things, anti-Americanism on the rise and so on.

So, dear reader(s), give it to me straight, what do you like (and not like) about this blog? What do you want to see more of? Less of?


update: links omitted, fixed now.

Comments

The Last Ephor said…
Believe me Hube, I'm not in this for the "hits" and I've got the sitemeter to show for it. I've never asked anyone to blogroll me or link to me in any way. Either they want to of their own volition, or they don't. It's up to them.

I like your idea of focusing on enteratinment and how that affects politics and culture. Not too many sites doing that.

Like you, this is an outlet for me. If it becomes a chore I'll give it up. There are days when it feels like a drain and I feel obligated to have something new. That's not how I want this to work.
2:01 PM
Paul Smith Jr. said…
Go with what works for you. Write about what you want to write about and if people don't want to read they won't. That's the approach I've taken. I'm under no illusions that there's a huge market for a blog about Catholicism and history or that I'm sucha good writer people will come anyway. It's more of a release for me.

Do what you want and don't worry about us. What you're doing now works for you, keep doing it until it doesn't.
9:52 AM
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