Compulsions and quandaries
There are times when I seriously wonder about this site.
Three posts in December, two in November? Frankly it is going nowhere.
There are times when I seriously wonder about the other site too. Blogging can be a bit of a chore at times, and I confess I have been tempted to call it a day. In fact, most days, I get up with a firm resolve to give it a rest, at least for a couple of days, if not longer.
But then the bug bites.
An idea comes into my head, and I have to write it down. It is a strange compulsion, but it must be obeyed. Quite often, I hate myself afterwards for my lack of resolve.
I have always had a small compulsion to write things down. I kept a ‘journal’ (diaries are or women!!) for the best part of thirty seven years. I never missed a day, despite all the entries being very similar. The fact that I had nothing to write on any day never stopped me – I still had to write. I finally stopped last summer, but that was simply because the medication I was on at the time made it next to impossible. It’s difficult jutting down what you did in a day, when you can’t remember!
I suppose the reason I keep this site going is that it is doing no harm just sitting here. I wouldn’t save anything by shutting it down, and in fact would lose a (tiny) income if I did. I suppose my hope is that when the recession passes that advertising will improve? Certainly, this site’s Alexa rankings have improved enormously, despite the lack of activity. It has gone from 1,588,769 to 394,931 in a matter of three months which should improve any advertising chances? Why it has risen so high is anyone’s guess.
If I shut down the other site, on the other hand, I would lose considerably. Anyway, it is a handy outlet for random thoughts and musings and frankly, is a lot of fun at the end of the day. I think that one is there to stay.
The problem with this site is that I rarely have anything to say. It was intended as an outlet for my more serious ponderings, but since I gave up the web design business, my serious mind seems to have retired.
Maybe I should send this site in another direction? Maybe I should concentrate on some particular aspect of something?
I’m stumped.
Any suggestions are welcome!
I am curious about the diary – oops, sorry, journal. Did it change when you started blogging, or was blogging always very different?
I’d say keep Headrambles Manor up and running at all costs and just hit this when you feel up to it. It’s hard to keep two running at your advanced age and mental condition.
I subscribe to both in a reader, which I recommend to everyone as opposed to checking a bookmark daily. If there are no posts for a while I don’t really notice, then on the day there is one it shows up and I read it.
I’m not going to unsubscribe if there are scant postings. I keep the reader set to show only updated feeds so when there are no postings I’m not even thinking about it.
Follow-up comment – I think I have some personal blogs in my reader that have been abandoned and not posted to for some time. Since I’m set to show only updated material they stay invisible and I don’t feel like plowing through and clearing them out. They don’t show up so it doesn’t matter anyway.
Cathy: The journal was merely a record of what I did on a day to day basis. It was particularly handy during my working days, and in particular when I was running my own business. I found it absolutely invaluable during the latter. When I quit all that, life became considerably quieter and my day to day records were boring the pants off me. Take it from me – it was nothing like the stuff that appears on-line!!!
RhodesTer: Likewise, I have a huge list in my feed reader. Every now and then I go into ‘Trends’ and it can be quite depressing seeing the number of old favourites that haven’t posted in a year or more. What’s with the “advanced age and mental condition” bit? 😉
I’m starting to feel it myself so I was just saying I understand.
But you’re only a child?
I said “okay”
Then WordPress said “Your comment was a bit too short. Please go back and try again.”
Fuck it.
Unfortunately, I can’t find where to modify that…
You want one word comments? We’re a bunch of lazy bastards.
Yes.
[*and a bunch of filler letters, so the comment won’t be rejected*]
I tend to agree with RhodeTer, he actually makes sense this time. 😉
No harm in keeping this one around no more than there’s harm in me keeping a couple other sites besides Just Thinkin’ around. One I post to about as often as you post to this one (maybe less) and the other’s just a test site more or less which might or might not blossom into something more substantial later on.
Of course there’s no question about “The Other Site” remaining. Sanity rarely requires an outlet but insanity always demands to be heard.
RhodesTer does make sense sometimes (not often, I grant you, but sometimes). I do actually have an idea for a direction for this site, as an experiment – a topic I haven’t seen covered elsewhere. We shall but see.
Incidentally, I love that last line of yours. An original?
Yup, that one was 100% me. In fact I liked it so much myself I stuck it in my sidebar under “Semi-Wisdom”. Feel free to use it though. Costs too much to copyright these days anyway.