No diagnoses & no solutions – I'm a bad blogger

February 11, 2008

10 Comments Annette Clancy

Blogging has been lite the past few months. Due in some part to other commitments and due in no small part to a degree of disillusion on my part as to what I have to offer in this medium. If I pay attention to how it ‘should’ be done I would regularly offer 10 Tips to Success/remedy/sorting your work and life out and continue in the vein of so many established bloggers by generating a problem/syndrome and offering a remedy.
My disillusion and my increasing optimism comes from knowing that life isn’t that simple – if only it was. If only I could diagnose in 5 minutes flat and quickly write a prescription that would make it all better. I see so many consultants falling into this trap in the work world and then watch them wonder why there is so much cynicism about the profession. Over promising and under delivering is the consultant’s syndrome. I see so much of it in the blogging world as well – bullet points, simple solutions, increasing helplessness on the part of those of us who simply ‘don’t get it’ and the roundabout goes on.
I’ve fallen into this trap myself – I do have ‘rules‘ of a kind but I tend to play fast and loose with them – perhaps I’ve adopted the lingo of the blog world in an attempt to slot in? But increasingly I’m uncomfortable with it and as a result my blogroll will undergo a massive spring clean in the next week or so. My increasing optimism comes from wanting to put down the burden of writing a ‘useful blog’ and giving myself the freedom to think about abandoning this space altogether – I’ve no plans to quit just yet – but thinking about it has certainly fired the creative juices again. Perhaps I’ve ignored my meta rule which is – work with what’s staring you in the face instead of trying to ignore it’. So no quick diagnoses or solutions to be found here … I eschew the bullet points ..and I invite you to slap me on the wrist if I fall into complacency mode in 2008.
Edit: Matt, of course, got here before me …
Further Edit (thinking out loud) of course this really is a cry for help on my part – I want a simple 3 step plan to solving this dilemma I find myself in – all answers on a bullet pointed post card please.

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10 People reacted on this

  1. The temptation for the blogger is to ape the business journalist – “here are 6 impossible bullet points to digest with breakfast”. If it’s any consolation, I’ve decided I can’t (& won’t) do that stuff either.
    We can write whatever we like provided we are happy to live with the consequences.
    Please do not stop blogging or writing.

  2. Yes it is the temptation isn’t it and I won’t stop writing for now but increasingly I’m feeling the burden of not producing what is considered to be enough solutions (my own inner demons manifesting in a wild projection of course) and I need to stop reading blogs that do! And as for living with the consequences – that’s such an interesting thing to think about .. what consequences might I be avoiding … mmm

  4. It sounds like you’ve fallen prey to the thought of what your blog “should” offer, and we all know how crippling that single word was. Since you’ve already considered (however briefly) the thought of closing up shop here, you’ve just given yourself permission to do anything you’d like with this site: after all, why worry about preserving the image of (or obeying the rules with) a blog you might burn?
    So if you could do anything you want with a “purely experimental” site, what would you do? I think that kind of bold & even playful experimentation would be far more interesting than anything the business blogging world suggests you “should” do here.

  5. Unless you are deliberately trying to market yourself or some other thing to a specific end (and I’m not suggesting that’s a bad thing), I’ve always thought the key to satisfying blogging is to blog for yourself first. Anyway, perhaps you should try Twitter instead…

  6. Lori – you’re absolutely right of course – there’s so much changing around me now that I’ve lost my bearings in one way and so many people offering ‘solutions’ is oppressive (perhaps I’m falling foul of the market as well!)…and there’s a bit of me missing the personal blogging if I’m honest too … oh bring on the mid life crisis. I think what’s happening is the meeting of personal and professional in a different way (thrown up by research as well it has to be said) and one I’m not sure how to live with not alone write about at the moment.
    James – thanks for your comment too – you of course raise interesting questions as to the point of this entire exercise..as for Twitter…it doesn’t really suit my personality …I struggle with text messaging on my phone!

  7. Yep, before you know it you have to make a choice between self expression and self-promotion. Bullet points are good for self-promotion but at what cost?

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