July 9, 2008

Announcement: Scribbler Goes Weekly!

That's right folks! The Scribbler had a serious talk with himself and decided a change was needed.

When I started this blog a little over a year ago, I declared that I wasn't really interested in your public diary sort of blog. Not to say that there isn't a call for that kind of blog. Lord knows I even read a few like that. It's a good way to keep up with family and friends who publish them. And just because a blog concentrates on such subject matter doesn't mean it can't be intellectually deep, or aesthetically dazzling.

But that's just not what I was aiming for. I wanted to concentrated on good writing; the sort of thing I used to write when I wrote columns for small newspapers. And, I said this was going to be a philosophical blog, which is still my aim.

To a certain extent, I have succeeded. I've been pleased with some of the essays I've published in this blog, and I've received good feedback. But something was missing. I couldn't put a finger on why it was so difficult for me to motivate myself to publish regularly, unlike my wife, who puts out new postings almost daily (sometimes even more than one a day!), and doesn't seem to ever run out of steam. She's my alphablogger. When she mentions my blog in her blog, my stats go through the roof for a day or two.

I tend to write long. (I can hear some people out there saying, "Tell us something we didn't know!") Years of habit make me think of ideas that take about 800 words to express; columns in other words. And it's just so hard to keep that up all the time when you're a nine-to-six working stiff.

And then it occurred to me: deadlines! I'm a deadline creature! Tell me an article is due on Tuesday at five, and you'll get it in the e-mail on Tuesday at 4:50.

I followed a blog once that published weekly. It was good. I always looked forward to publishing day (I think it was Monday), and his pieces were always worth reading. It worked.

So that's how it's going to work around here now. Starting today, A Touch of Pansophia will publish a posting -- think: column -- every week, and Wednesday will be publishing day. That doesn't mean I won't ever post in between, but Wednesday will be a deadline I commit myself to keep every week. I can already feel my creative juices responding to the deadline pressure.

Later today I'm going to cheat by publishing something I already have in the can. It's Wednesday: time to publish!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, great idea! I'm deadline-oriented too. Guess I better work on some will exercises. Or maybe blog more often.

It's true that most people do not read 800-word blog posts. But some do. Like my friend The Third Eve, whose comments section is sometimes even longer than her posts!

Anonymous said...

Looks like a good idea, I hope you will keep it as you've decided. I am not a fan of deadlines when it comes to blogging, I just write when I feel like I have something to say. But, as a permanent reader here, I also join the choir and say: We want more posts on Pansophia! So, waiting for Pansophia Wednesdays!

An Unknown Philosopher said...

Excellent!! I look forward to reading your now regular postings!!

I know from my own experience that I needed to commit to a regular regime of posting - aiming for lengthy explorations of different themes at least weekly and daily posting of a quote or some other snippet of wisdom that is relevant to what is happening in my version of reality in this corner of the cosmic!

Peace Profound
An Unknown Philosopher.