We’re doing a little series of short posts on why you probably shouldn’t blog. And if you insist on blogging as I have with my blog, this series will expose everything you should first consider before you start your blog. Questions welcome in an email.
DISSENT
Before you start that blog, don’t.
Just don’t.
Dissent against your mind’s impulse and do not start that blog. Of the twelve blogs I started, I should have never started the first eleven before I arrived at this — my blog.
Okay maybe you could start a blog, but in general no – you probably shouldn’t start a blog. For one, anything we humans choose to do should aspire toward the higher forms: love, beauty, honesty, courage. The War of Art by Pressfield talks about every possible barrier that opposes our high and noble callings, but those callings – that desire for greatness – should change the posture we take toward everything we do.
To not do trivial or trite or petty things.
To spend our time in worthwhile pursuits.
Most blogs fall into the first category. And the systems they create reinforce that problem.
Dissent Against Blogs in General
Again, speaking generally, most blogs do not rise to the level of art, innovation, or therapy for the hurting. I’m not saying blogs can’t do that, certainly some can and do, but in general the immediacy created by that shiny orange “Publish” button negates anything good we might have, could have, would have created through reflection, care, practice, and overall time at task.
Urgency does violence to importance.
That’s why four-year elections change little in the overall trajectory of America. They’re urgent, but the truly important things stay both hidden and ignored by the general populace. We leave the fate of important issues up to a handful of people who actually keep changing the world over the long, slow haul.
Dissent Against Your Blog, Specifically
( as I have with my blog )
It’s the same with blogging: if you don’t have a solid end-game, some cohesive vision in mind beyond, “Hey, I think I’ll publish that,” then don’t. For all that’s good and holy, do not start a blog. It’s noisy enough around here, my blog included sometimes. It’s hard for blogs to ascend to the level of art or culture creation or innovation, harder than nearly any other medium because it’s a medium based on immediacy and disposable content. You can only hang so many urinals and trash bags and Campbell’s Soup cans on the wall before they’re not art anymore, they’re just what they were:
Junk.
If you’re thinking that a blog’s best for selling your services or book, email marketing remains the best route.
“What? Email, Lance?! That’s so 1988.”
Yeah, well, electric vehicles are so 1988 and they’re not going anywhere any time soon.
If you’re thinking you should just “get your thoughts out there,” you’re right: you should. You do need to find your voice – giving people a voice is one of the quests I’ve dedicated my life to. You should find your voice by writing or speaking often.
That in mind, when it comes to finding your voice: learn to whisper before you choose to shout. At this point, someone will say, “Even the fool is thought wise if he keeps his mouth shut,” and that someone would be right. However, this is not a good reason to believe, “I need to have something to say before I can write or before I can speak or before I can create or even before I blog.” You should simply practice your craft in private or in a controlled environment like an invite-only private blog or in a critique group during a great MFA program or in a blog under a pseudonym that you delete or archive posts.
Did you know that I’ve taken down over a thousand posts over the years on this blog alone? When you count the blogs I’ve deleted, I’ve removed more posts on a magnitude of order than I’ve let remain in the public eye. There are only 600 posts on this blog but in total, I’ve probably deleted or put into draft mode around 6,000 across the various blogs I’ve hosted over the years.
A public blog makes for a rather crowded and vulnerable sandbox for the adolescent creator.
Dissent Against That Particular Blog Post
The majority of bloggers post on impulse. I’ve seen people post as a reaction to some other post, as stream-of-consciousness, as an immediate share of something they didn’t take time to digest, and even from something that happened some ten minutes before the post. Here’s my dissent against that post you’re writing:
Will the post go from conception to live in under three hours?
If so, don’t write that post. Dissent against the impulse.
Comment early, comment often, keep it civil: