Another one bites the dust

First there was Bad News Hughes, bowing out of the blogosphere. Now, sadly we add Will over at Be the Boy.

Citing a busy schedule and mysterious projects, Will is taking a blogging sabbatical, the length of which has yet to be determined.

I had a recent conversation regarding burn-out with another blogger friend of mine. We were discussing the difficulty of remaining creative and topical on a regular (daily) basis. The trouble with blogging and web-based writing in general is that the information gets stale almost as fast as you can post it. Websites are continuously updated and information is distributed so quickly that this morning's post is old news by that afternoon coffee break. Therefore, if you're not posting regularly, your blog quickly becomes the virtual covered wagon at the Indy 500. Or something like that.

Anyway…

The point my friend made is that she needs to determine "why" she is blogging, and either go full bore or come to a dead halt because middle of the road blogging seems to be the most frustrating. You want to post regularly and keep it fresh, but the time isn't available. Then you get frustrated with the poor quality and lack of consistency. I've seen many bloggers go stale and stop posting for months on end, which probably results in losing all those readers one works so hard to obtain.

Probably the biggest hurdle to blogging is the sheer number of blogs out there. As Dr. John said,

"… there is A LOT of reading material out there competing for my time and attention and most of what I read is specialized to my interests. Trying to appeal to everyone as a generalist has to be the hardest way to get an audience, if that is what you want. On the other hand, if you were to start a blog about raising kids, fans of Elvis, or agnostic Catholics, you could probably get an international audience quickly."

Food for thought.

I've always gone the generalist route because:

• It's easy and I'm lazy
• It offers me the freedom to write about absolutely anything
• I don't know a lot about anything, but I know a little about a lot
• I don't care enough about any one thing to devote an entire blog to it
• Most of the stuff that gets caught in my mind's filter is generally fluff material, which lends itself to a generalist blog

I've sort of lost my train of thought somewhere along the way. Basically I'm sorry to see Will hanging it up, and while I've considered doing the same thing on many occasions, it's normally when I'm experiencing that burnt-out feeling. But then something funny will occur or some celebrity will drop dead, and I'm back in business.

So enjoy your vacation Will, but I'll expect you back in action anon.

Comments

[natalie]

yes...this is a sad sad thing. will at be the boy interviewed me for the interview project and now he's shutting down his blog? i am crushed. i think i might get a complex from the whole thing.

[HeyJoe]

I wouldn't take it personally Natalie. Then again maybe you should. Perhaps it IS all your fault. Gee, thanks LOADS. :)