Blogging Pressure - Quantity is Not Quality
Some days I feel pressure to come up with a thought to write about. I don't want to be forced to merely comment on the news, even though there are plenty of sites that I enjoy that do just that.
I usually write my posts a day in advance and post them the following day in order to give myself a chance to re-read them and make sure that the ideas that I expressed were clear and that there was nothing else to add on the topic.
Quantity is not quality. The quality of one's posts deteriorates if one feels pressure to blog every single day. It is impossible to consistently write "brilliant" posts. While I write for myself, I am still conscious that there are people out there who read my words.
I am going to practice what I preach. I would rather read one great post rather than a hundred mediocre posts. For the time being, if I do not have any ideas to write about, I am going to wait until I do.
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Afterthought - This is a whole post full of words that say that I have nothing to say today.
8 Comments:
On a similar topic, see:
http://biurchametz.blogspot.com/2004/12/dont-read-this-no-posts-today.html
Great post Zman Biur!
I definitely feel as you do about posts (although I still find myself trying to blog daily -- I'm still rather new to it, but perhaps the novelty will wear off), and I think that your style of writing a day earlier and posting a day later is a wonderful way to edit yourself -- you step away to gain distance, but doing so helps gain perspective.
When you know that you have readers who expect a certain style from you, based on all the previous posts of yours that they've read, sometimes you feel pressure to cater to their needs, rather than to your own.
But thank G-d you do have readers -- posting is not always so rewarding when you get no or minimal feedback.
For that matter, you might as well keep a handwritten journal!
And your name is not quite accurate: from what I've read, you're not A SIMPLE JEW. You are definitely an enlightened and well-versed Jew!
Thanks for your thoughts Pearl :)
What you have said makes sense. I certainly have struggled with similar sentiments. Quantity is definitely not quality.
Some days I have so much to say. I don't have the time to blog about everything. And some days there is nothing. And, like you, I write for myself. I get complaints sometimes if I don't write for a few days, but isn't it just that much more exciting when I do finally write???
Thanks Jack and Yetta.
I read the original post, and the comments with interest. I certainly post more sometimes than others. I often write on my blog when expressing my feelings elsewhere would be absolutely the wrong thing to do, or when I am trying to figure out what I do feel or believe, or when something humorous, wonderful, exciting, or alarming has happened in my life. But requiring readers? Despite being a baby boomer, blogging reflects the Gen X mentality of the folks with whom I work. I would rather write on-line than in a journal, and if someone reads what I write, so much the better.
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