White Noise

Yesterday, I watched a very interesting presentation (here). It is interesting from many sides, but I will wait a little to see whether the advice that Merlin Mann gives in the presentation takes root, before I enthusiastically praise his method for making life more simple.

Aside from his advice on how to deal with the continual flow of incoming email, I felt many of his points apply to uses of other technologies or media. What he said made me reflect upon my blogging and the large range of associated activities that I participate in with the blogging community.

As some of you might know, I started blogging initially as an experiment. Then I thought it would be a nice way to allow friends and family to get a glimpse into my day-to-day life. Something made difficult by the fact all of my siblings and relatives and many of my friends are scattered across the world.

I have a serious aversion of serial letters of any sort. I hate repeating news in emails. I’m not one to chew the chat (or whatever the expression is). So, blogging is godsend. I can write about whatever is on my mind, without feeling as if I’m wasting my friends’ time: if they aren’t interested in what I’m saying in certain posts, they can skip over them. The plus side is that what I write is honest, current, and a true reflection on my humble existence.

What I hadn’t expected was very few of my family (hi, sis!) and very few of my friends (a handful) read my blog regularly. The fact is, as far as sitemeter tells me, most of the readers of this blog, have gotten to “know” me through other blogs or the blogging community.

I talked to Charlotte about this on our first rendezvous in Berlin. Her experience has been similar to mine. And this made me think that part of blogging is writing, of course, but also becoming a more active member of the blogging community. In the last months, I have been trying to make more of a conscientious effort to leave comments on other people’s posts and monitor whether people are reading my posts.

The problem is (and this is where I make a swift return to Mann’s presentation) I have been creating a bit of white noise with all the “ becoming more active” in the community. I have become so distracted with what people are writing, the comments of those bloggers’ readers on their blogs, who is doing what with whom, that my attention has been somewhat drawn away from the real task at hand: writing.

This distraction has to stop; in the same way that Merlin Mann says our ineffectual practices in (not) coping with our ever-filling inbox has to stop. There has to be a sensible way to create an empty inbox (i.e., reduce my preoccupation with the blogging community) and free my mind for the more important task at hand.

I feel as though I got a gentle slap in the face. It’s time to figure out how to be a more efficient, good member of the blogsphere, and, more importantly, a better blogger.