What’s the point of a blog if I never post?
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Indeed, this is only my second post of 2022. The first one, about the unexpected loss of a friend and colleague, was written way back in March.
I’d like to say that I haven’t posted because I’ve been too busy or too stressed or both, and I suppose that’s been true for the past couple of months, even if it’s whiney to say it. This semester has been reasonably difficult. But since there was a whole summer in there, and I don’t teach summer school, that excuse really doesn’t hold water.
I’d also like to say that I haven’t posted because I’ve been too busy creating things. And true, I did finish a long short story, and I’ve revived my interest in music, both of which are good. But I don’t spend as much time as I could on these, either.
No, I think I just I’ve just let time slip by without paying attention—distracted, I suppose, by various forms of social media. Most lately, it’s been TikTok, that efficient, intermittent-schedule-of-reinforcement-based dopamine delivery system. It’s an amazing time-travel device: I can sit down for just a couple minutes, only to stand up over an hour later.
There’s also the mixed blessing of YouTube. On the one hand, I’ve learned a lot about music history and theory, about guitars and pedals and tone, about recording gear and techniques—things that I never had the opportunity to learn, back when my music world was limited to music magazines and the handful of musicians who happened to be around me.
On the other hand, I’m a sucker for that column of recommended videos, and I’ll open up two or three new tabs for each video I watch.
Fortunately, the alt-right-adjacent, QAnon-inflected, anti-woke Elon Musk recently bought, and set fire to, Twitter, which has contributed to a public and widespread reassessment of social media more generally.
It’s in that context that I stumbled on a post from sci-fi writer John Scalzi, “How to Weave the Artisan Web.” His post reminded me of something that I’ve long believed, and that I’ve heard from many others, but that I had somehow forgotten: every writer—perhaps everyone, in fact—should have her own site, under her own control. And he called for people to “create/reactivate” their own accounts.
That word, “reactivate,” resonated somehow, and led me to log back into Oh Ick—where I discovered that I had written, as I’ve said, exactly one post this whole year. Not impressive.
So: I’m back.
What will I post about? I have a few ideas, all of which fall under a vision for my blog that I’ve long held, intellectually if not in practice: that it should be a playground or laboratory for me to make meaning, to learn and explore, to try things out, to test my work or consider my processes.
In addition, I’ve become convinced of a central point in Austin Kleon’s book Show Your Work: that one way to support your work (the thing you create) is to show your work (your process). And since I have a hard time finishing projects, I’m hoping that showing myself working will encourage me to actually work.
[Update 12/26/22] I just wrote some Notes and Thoughts on Austin Kleon’s <em>Show Your Work</em>, if that brief mention of his book interests you at all.]
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash