It’s been just under a month since I launched my Blog Calendar widget for kris.nelson, and aside from a few kinks that I need to work out, it’s been holding its own.
More worth mentioning in that post and in the review of my Dell Mini, however, is reaching my initial goal of posting at least one blog entry a day. I realize it’s nothing to throw a parade over, but for me, I think it’s a big victory and I’m happy to be able to reach my goal of one post a day for an entire month.
For me, it’s not as much as being able to write enough or create enough original content to fill a blog post each day. Those who know me know I always have something to say, and coworkers in the past have commented on some of my emails being way too long. No, to me, it’s about getting into the habit and making time in my daily routine to sit down, tune out the rest of the world, and write. I think that has probably been the most rewarding part so far.
My Blogs
A big part of the blogosphere is creating engaging content and generating user interaction and coummunity-based discussions with your blogs. Obviously I’m far from that, so that is yet another, longer term goal. For now, just the joy of writing is my motivation at the moment. I currently write on four different blogs, which has it’s pros and cons. The biggest advantage is that I have that much larger of a range to write about, from things regarding Maui and my photography, to things in my daily life and for my web development work.
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage, though, is that having so many blogs covering different topics can lead to less continuity at the individual level. What I mean by that is by posting on a different blog each day (although there is no set rotation), there are fewer posts on each individual blog as there would be if I was focused on one topic solely. I have a combined RSS feed that aggregates all the latest posts from each blog, but with a wide range of topics, there is likely not a large enough audience out there that cares about everything I write. I mean, I like to think of myself as sort of an interesting fella, but I know the difference between what’s important to me and what everyone else thinks is important are not always the same.
Next Goals
To counter that disadvantage of scattered posts at an individual blog level, my next goal is focused on targeting more than just one post a day, and getting to more of a regular schedule with my different blogs. Namely, the two blogs (and sites, for that matter) that are getting most of my attention right now are Ka’anapali Dreamin’ and Kris Nelson Photography. I already have a recurring series for my Maui site, which is the Sunday Photo series that features a new photo every Sunday (hence the name). I have long since wanted to expand on that concept of scheduled topics, such as having a news post on Tuesdays and having something for Aloha Fridays, but haven’t had the discipline to do so. I think reaching this first goal was a big step closer to that.
For my photography site, there are also many places I can go with that. There are still some functional aspects of the site I’d like to add, as well as more photos and locations that I have visited that I would also like to feature. Something similar to a Sunday Photo, or maybe just a regular post about some of my existing favorites. I still have a lot to learn in the photography arena, so as I push myself there, the lessons learned and notes from my experiences may also be worth writing about.
High Hopes
Like just about everything else, the sky is pretty much the limit here. For those of you who haven’t had much experience writing regularly on a blog or similar site, you might not think it’s such a big deal. For the rest of you that are already main contributors to the blogosphere, you know exactly what I’m referring to.
So, can I pull it off? I like to think I can do more than I am right now, but I don’t know if I can reach that point where I have enough time to devote to this as I ultimately would like to. But as long as I never lose the spirit of wanting to write and continue down this path for all the right reasons, I think I’ll do just fine.
What About You?
Have your own blogging stories or experiences that you’d like to share? Comment away.
