Next week I'm leading a Webinar for Extension on the topic of tagging. So, I've been spending some time in del.icio.us and stumbled upon this article bookmarked by Michelle Martin called "Some Reasons Why I Nearly Quit Blogging." The article outlines some reasons why people stop blogging and why it is hard to keep momentum. Better yet, there are some great tips for getting around those problems.
I can relate to this point:
Writing quality content is challenging to do over the long term: Writing once a month is easy. Writing once a week is harder, but not much. Writing every day is challenging. After a post is published, the next day I’m greeted by a blank page. And another. And another. I thought writing fun stuff daily would be loads of fun, but lately I’ve become skeptical. I imagine it’s like working in a chocolate factory. Sounds great before the sight of all those chocolate lumps, day after day, slowly drive you mad due to sheer repetition.
How I Get Beyond It: Write posts in advance - when I went on vacation, I learned about the awesome power of setting Post Timestamp to the future to publish posts days from now. Second, quality over quantity. Lastly, not blogging for a few days doesn’t mean the end of the world - so take a freaking break.
Michelle is absolutely right about the quality and pertinence of the content. I'm emerging from a hiatus. One other factor I've noticed is that a pause also sees you drop out of the conversation. You become a little like the person on the edge of a social group trying to get a word in edgeways. Given that the conversation is what motivates many bloggers, it takes patience to overcome this.
Posted by: Nick Booth | May 03, 2007 at 01:33 AM
Hi, thanks for the link. I'm glad you among others found my "confessional" interesting. It's good to learn many bloggers struggle with the urge to throw in the towel, but guess what - a link from a new blog like yours appears and offers motivation to continue! Thanks again.
Posted by: Webomatica | May 03, 2007 at 07:10 AM