Then it hits me.

I’ve been slowly raising the standards of my writing. It’s no longer about writing instantly whatever is on my mind.²  It’s now about collecting my thoughts and ideas on any single topic, and spruced them up with links that I’ve researched along the way.  Over the years, I’ve came to realize blogging suddenly took a lot of effort!

Then there’s the problem of feedback. I have very few followers of this blog (thanks, Steve! ). It’s hard to gauge how my efforts are being evaluated. So the gratification level of blogging went down in the past few years.

I’ve considered many times to just abandon this blog and just go do micro blogging on Tumblr.  People do (myself included) have a very short attention span. They’ll only respond to pictures or videos. They’ll sometimes respond to sensational/weird headlines, but even then it’s not a sure thing.

Perhaps this Project Triangle says it all:

“Pick Any Two: Fast, Good, or Cheap.”

I can do it fast and good, but I’ll need to pay other people to help me write.

I can do it fast and cheap, but I doubt it’ll be good – at least not all the time.

I can do it good and cheap, but it’s definitely going to take time. This is pretty much the mode I’m in right now.  I’m the only writer and I try my best to make it good.

So, with the world, nowadays, going at lightning speed, hungry for quality stuff, and want everything free, what can this part-time blogger do?

Photo Credit: Christian

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Fast, Good, or Cheap

1. But the whole blogging mania started around 2001
2. I’ve got the social networks like Facebook and Twitter for that.

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Luckily, this is just a blog.  Its very nature is quick and dirty¹.  This is why Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are so popular.  I can’t spend too much time editorializing and agonizing over every word or sentence.  No time to think (too much).  Like Nike used to say: Just Do It!

Here’s a comic from Chuck & Beans that sums it up quite well:

Update: Sam Shah has some really good advice on how to blog.  He writes from experience, and very practical.

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Typo Fear

1. Dirty being the synonym for “error prone”.

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Essentially, blogging has lost it’s purpose.  It’s no longer about telling a unique story.

So why am I still bothered to blog?  For one thing, blogging is highly personal.  My blog is about my curiosity.  It’s about my opinion and commentary of the world around me.  My blog is about me.  It may be narcissistic, but it’s the only way for me to keep going.

The “A-List” bloggers have pointed out that blogging should be about their audience.  If that was the case, I would write for a magazine, or guest writing on someone else’s blog.

I’m still here because I’m not out to gain millions of page views, or thousands of readers.  I’m not blogging for notoriety, nor money.

I’m blogging to share my story.  I’m blogging to inform.  I’m also here to help, if people genuinely reach out to me.  It’s about forming new friends and possibly a community.

But most of all, I think blogging is fun.  I’m a geek and always fascinated with communication via the computer.  I started with a 300 baud modems and got excited when people leave me a message on a BBS.  Now, I’m connected to a bigger audience on a 1.5 Mbps connection, sharing audio, video, and fancy graphics.  It’s the perfect medium for knowledge and expression.

Some say blogging is dead, or at least blogging has changed.  But I say people have changed.  I say bloggers need to re-check their intentions.

The New Year is coming, time to make new, but do-able, blogging resolutions.  Most important: Keep blogging!

Photo Credit: Dalla*

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Still Blogging

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Pastor Rick Warren called out bloggers as “cowards” because we can be too critical, speak half-truths (sometimes no truth), and make no room for discussion.

There lies the problem with blogging:  Who are we accountable to?  If I only report to myself, then I can pretty much say and do anything.   But is that the best use of my time and effort to blog?  Should I care about the subject I’m writing?   Do I care what my readers think?

To be a responsible blogger, I follow these steps:

Research

I’ve been in this situation before where I get lazy and just write from the top of my head. Sometimes I don’t bother to look at the story, idea, or argument from all sides.  After publishing the post, I re-read my article and realized I could make it better by referencing other sites.  Linking my post to other sites enforces the fact that someone else supports my ideas.  The more I know what’s being said out there, the more objective I can be.  A little research goes a long way.

As a matter of fact, the term “blog” was derived from “web log”.  Jorn Barger first used the word “web log” as a way to record URL links to articles that he found interesting on the web.  In a sense, his blog was his research.

Comment

Being able to comment is my only reason to write (and read) blogs.  In the past, I read articles on newspaper, or the web, without a way to immediately comment.  The lack of interaction between author and reader is boring.  A blog without comments will hurt a blogger’s credibility, unless your name is Seth Godin.  For everyone else,  Comments are powerful.  There must be room for discussion.

As a blogger, the responsible thing to do is to be accountable to my readers.  I must answer all of my reader’s questions, remarks, and (especially) criticisms.

Be Nice

I don’t understand why anyone would write a post riddled with profanity.  I’m not against using a cuss word.  A well placed use of it can be an effective writing strategy.  But being prude, crude, and rude does not help a blogger’s image, and it’s down right counter-productive.

Being nice also means being helpful.  I’m not here to just peddle my stuff, or merely shoving my opinion on everyone else.  I’m here to share my experience and expertise.  If everyone’s mission is to help and get along with others, then I can imagine blogging will be so much more fun.

Let’s Be Productive

I’m responsible for my actions.  I have to constantly check my motives to blog.  There has to be a purpose in doing all this writing, day in and day out.

I’m using this chance to create value and be useful.  It’s a better way to use my time.

It’s the responsible thing to do.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Responsible Blogging

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What’s different in 2009 for my blog?  For one thing, I’ve changed WordPress layout to Vladimir Prelovac‘s Amazing Grace Theme.  When Vladimir released it last year and mentioned it to me in a comment, I checked it out and quickly loved it!  I promised myself that I would use it next time.  That time is here.  I’ve made a few tweaks to suit my needs.  Originally, I was going with the default 3-column setup. But I decided my content should be more prominent, so I went back with my true and tested 2-column configuration.

Next, I’ve taken a step to make this blog more personal.  I used to write work related posts here, but I’m now going to do that in a new blog site, Building IT.  There’s so much to talk about in both worlds, so there’ll be plenty of stuff to write about in both blogs.

Some stuff will remain the same, such as my focus to foster comments via my blogs, Disqus, Backtype, and FriendFeed.  I’m also continuing to keep up with the latest WordPress releases and third party plugins.

For those of you who are still reading my blog, thanks again for visiting!  Remember, I’m also here to help, so if you have any question, let me know.  Your comments are greatly appreciated!

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Three Years Blogiversary

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I read Matthew Ingram’s post with quotes from Seth Godin about blogging.  It’s related to my recent post mentioning my own reasons to blog.  I think it’s worth repeating what Seth said:

Blogging is free. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads it. What matters is the humility that comes from writing it. What matters is the meta-cognition of thinking about what you’re going to say. How do you explain yourself, to your few employees, or to your cat, or to whoever’s going to look at it? How do you force yourself to describe, in three paragraphs, why you did something? How do you respond, out loud?

If you’re good at it, then people are going to read it. If you’re not good at it and you stick with it, you’ll get good at it. This has become much bigger than “are you BoingBoing” or “are you the Huffington Post” — this has become such a micro-publishing platform that basically you’re doing it for yourself, to force yourself to become part of the conversation, even if it’s just that big (holds two fingers about an inch apart). And that changes an enormous amount.

Watch the clip of the interview at OpenForum.com.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Personal Reasons To Blog

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3. Welcome To My Very Own Blog Space! – 2006-01-10 11:25

Thanks to Scott for the link lead.

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Fun with Wordle

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• I get into it because I believe I have good taste.
• Sometimes I believe what I posted is not that good.
• I’m still looking for the special thing(s).
• I am going through a volume of work, making deadlines, even though I don’t get paid to do this.
• I must not give up.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

Ira Glass is a host and producer of This American Life show.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Keep Going and Get It Done

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My wife likes to sit with my 3-year old daughter and show a slide-show of my daughter’s photos in reverse chronological order from recent to birth. She’ll ask her, “Who is this?” and my daughter would respond, “That’s Kaitlyn.” She’ll say her name in most of the pictures until she reaches a particular photo, where she’ll say, “That’s baby.” My wife and I are baffled by this. Is there a big difference in the way we photographed her before and after this picture? Does she look different? We don’t think so, but apparently my daughter can tell the difference.

The same goes with my blog writing. I’ve reviewed my posts to the beginning of my blogging days, more than 2 years ago, and noticed that I have indeed changed the way I write. Now, I write more words. The content is more in-depth and has a lot more outgoing links. I seem to have more things to say now, not just about myself. I can say that I’ve grown up, even if it’s only a little bit. I noticed my writing has improved a bit. The turning point was when I started having a few more readers. It began with zero RSS subscriber, now I have 25. I have regular blogging friends who drop by to check out what I have to say. I’ve also been reading other people’s advice, from writers and other experienced bloggers, on certain do’s and don’ts of the blogging. I’ve learned the tricks of the trade. Looking back, I have certainly grown as a blogger.

I’ve also asked the question, what should I do with some of the older posts that are bland and sometimes immature? Am I supposed to go back and delete them? Leo from Write To Done seemed to think it’s a good idea to delete old posts due to clutter. For me, I believe my blog is my personal diary and the old posts are valuable indication how far my blogging journey has taken me. My blog reader friend David Rader considers his personal blog as a time capsule for both him and his daughter can look back and enjoy. I certainly agree with him. I also want to use my blog as an educational material for my kid. I’ll tell her to learn from the old man, don’t make the same mistakes. My hope is that she will learn more from my unspoken words. I will not delete any of my old posts!

So here’s to more years of blogging — and more growing up to do!

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

All Grown Up

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I found a lot of sites offer so many tips out there. Most of them churned out posts just for the sake of creating new posts. They varied in style, but generally gave out the same tips. The posts that tickled me were about bloggers comparing blogging to a life experience. Some of the good ones were Blogging and Rabbits, Confucius Blog, Blogging like a Storm, and Blogs are like Cafes. These sorts of tips do get repetitive after a while, and they don’t really provide that much value to me.

A blog’s main form of communication is through words. It’s very important the written words are understandable. It’s something I’m striving to do with my blogs. When it comes to blogging advice, I tend to gravitate toward bloggers who are writers. They have the best tips all around, such as correcting grammar and spelling mistakes, exercise good writing habits, or how to overcome writer’s block. These people are:

• Leo Babauta
• Melissa Donovan
• Jay F.H.
• Rebecca Laffar-Smith
• Jennifer Williamson

If you’re serious about blogging as I am, you can start by subscribing to their RSS feeds and note their writing tips. I learned quite a bit from them in just the past few weeks. I’m glad these people are available to help me become a better writer, and a better blogger. Use them, today!

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

How to Become a Better Blogger

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