Monday, February 18, 2008

What's the frequency, readers?

Okay, let's not beat around the bush-- I am not blogging as much as I should be. I understand that, but as of late, I have also come to understand a terrible truth:

I'm just not as in to blogging as I used to be.

I don't know why-- part of me thinks that (downer alert) I might be having a little bit of a depression problem again (which might be great, because as everyone knows, I'm at least 30% more hilarious when depressed, although 90% of you aren't actually around me to witness it). But then, it might be that The Part That Wants to Start Writing a Book is becoming more aggressive, and wants more time for that. Although if that's the case, I wish it would just Get Started, as opposed to stranding me on the couch for hours a night either reading books by other people or, even worse, honing my Guitar Hero skills.

But either way, I've either got to shut the blog down, or get off my ass, because my posts just aren't good enough to sustain a twice-a-month posting schedule.

So here's what I propose-- from now until April 1, I will attempt to blog every day (barring times that I go out of town, which should only be once or twice), but the blog posts will probably only be a paragraph long, max.

Is this something you guys would be interested in? Or is the twice-monthly post sufficient? Or is it just time for me to hang up my spurs completely? Wait, don't answer that one. Because it's never really been a dream of mine to hear the phrase, "Yeah, it's probably better if you just quit writing now." If I want to hear that, I'll check in with my old poetry professor.

Please advise.

5 pipers piping:

Frisby said...

Oh, Kim, I love your blog! And I was just telling Beth a couple hours ago how you've stopped using twitter (after I explained what twitter was), and how I kinda miss that, too. (Now it's true that my blogging and twittering also died off, but that's because I'm a crappy writer who's lost interest in writing. Totally different.)

The truth is, I shall greedily consume any writings by one Kim Oja, because she kicks written ass. And the prospect of daily posts from you have me all (ahem) atwitter.

For myself, I've declared 2008 to be The Year I Actually Do Some of the Things I Always Say I'm Going to Do. Here it is, mid-to-late February, and I already want to quit. But I think I can persevere. And I bet you can totally get going on a book, too.

Ooh! Maybe you can use the blog for book-writing status reports! You could be all, "Only managed to knock out one page today; it was hard coming. Where's the love?" And we'd be like, "That so rocks, because most people just throw in the towel when they reach the hard pages! Hooray for Kim!" Everyone would be cool with reading short posts because Hey, you just spent all evening writing. And you could totally lord it over us how we so want to read what you're writing, but can't, nyah, nyah.

I'm fairly detached from reality at times. My big project for this year is to generate buzz around a fictional beverage that no one in their right mind would consume even if it did exist. So take my advice for what it's worth. But I have to believe that writing a book is less work than what I'm doing, especially for someone who actually writes.

(Also, I'm new to the whole pep-talk thing, so apologies if it's not going well.)

I'm not sure I actually answered your question. I think I'd prefer short daily bursts, because I still have the (incorrect) mentality that every communication is a present that I must love and cherish equally. But mainly, it's the need to respect and trust the author that matters. Once you have an audience that trusts you, you can actively lead them in whatever direction is best for you, and they'll follow.

I honestly don't want to come off as being sycophantic here, but now that I've read all that I wrote, I think I've crossed the line into being a bona fide fan. So, I apologize for all the gushing but, seeing as "fan" is derived from "fanatic," it kind of comes with the territory.

Love and hugs,
Frisby

mendacious said...

well my two cents... the deceptive trick of the mind says, blogging takes up time but it is in fact a lie. 15min, 30min... a masterpiece, okay maybe 1hour... the fact is, it is not an either or proposition- blogging VS. real writing (like novels.) as you totally say! because both murdershewrote or dexter can take the place of things like having a life or writing about one in a heartbeat as can guitar hero.so jealous by the way. the real question is i suppose is this enterprise something you have the heart to continue you with. it shouldn't be a burden, it should be a fun i wanna i needa communicate with the blognation. so my question would be - will it help this everyday blogging? like a jump of Nitrus in your car engine or what. . . of course i'd prefer that but not at the risk of it being a slavish task. but yah, are you in or are you out? either way the world needs you.

penelope said...

i totally agree with m.

it shouldn't be a burden. also, you shouldn't ever feel like you have to post more than a paragraph anyway--it's a blog, they're supposed to be short. i get more nervous when i'm writing something long, because i know i'll lose half of my 2 readers due to the length alone.

anyway, do it because YOU want to do it. or don't do it because you don't want to do it. we love you, we love your blog, but we gotta know that you love it too. or maybe you don't, which is also fine. use the force, kojak, use the force.
xoxo, pen.

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping that you keep writing SOMETHING, although the blog grants me more instant gratification.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Jim. I'm bona fide excited to use the words bona.

Also, I love your bloggins my sweet. We wouldn't want to burden you by insisting you blog and shizzle, but you do write some serious funny. The interweb NEEDS more funny!

I'm sad you dropped your Twitter, I just finally got off my ass and joined and integrated on my on site. I can twitter from my phone - WOO HOO

Anyway, we nub our Kim.