Attrition And Determination

I posted a while back the statistics about blogs and I thought I'd say a little bit about my plan.

While some people start a blog and then for whatever reason decide to drop it, I can't think of a reason to drop this blog. I won't lie, there have been some times when I thought of dropping my other blog, because the articles just aren't coming to me as fast as I would like them to, and the traffic is kind of slow, and there seems to be little or no interest or support from folks that I thought would be interested, but I'm soldiering on, because I think it's worth it. I think that blog is worth really digging for topics and I've got an article I'm writing right now that's still in the draft stage.

That's a big difference between there and here: there's no draft stage here. This is just me, writing my head down, so to speak. This is where I can let anything fly and the rules are far fewer. I've still implemented some rules here lie no cursing. Or at least, I try not to curse anymore. I'm sure it's bound to happen - even more bound to happen now that I've said that - but I really don't want to be labeled as "explicit" as a blog.

So the idea of a specific blog with a specific purpose failing, that's easy to grasp. You write a blog about pocket watches, but everything goes to digital watches and you're left thinking you might as well close up the blog. I get that.

But this kind of stuff, where it's just your thoughts? I don't know, I don't really get that. I do understand not writing stuff every day, but giving up all together? It sounds a little to me like giving up on yourself.

Ah, but some people are in it for the money and while I do have ads I am not sitting here typing, thinking that every little word I write is just a passport to more money. It's occurred to me that I'm not making very much at all and it doesn't really bug me. I put them up as an experiment and that's it. I'm not shy about it either. The whole time I've had them up I've had the ads clicked about 70 something times leaving me with about 37.00. I don't consider it real money because I have not gotten a check. When I have it in my hands I will then consider it real money.

So I can also understand if you have a blog that you think is going to make you big bucks only to find out you're like me (or worse) and I can see how, if that was your goal, you'd be a bit disappointed.

Or maybe people are writing blogs thinking they will become internet celebrities? Their blog will be an instant smash hit and they'll be invited on Opera?

A vast majority of blogs written (so say the statistics) are never even seen by the general public. Honestly, I think this has to do with content and perseverance. If there's something new to come to every day, then people will come and if it is indeed NEW than maybe someone that reads it, a friend from work maybe, will tell a friend of theirs to read it and word will spread. But it's not rational to think this will happen quickly. As a matter of fact, I'd say it's probably much safer to think this will not happen at all and spare yourself the sadness of failure.

An unexpected win is always sweeter.

So if you plan on being huge, or you plan on getting rich, or you write for a niche crowd, yes, I can see you stopping because of disappointment. But what about me?

I write for none of those reasons. I write because its so much quicker to type than actually WRITE in a journal, I like the feeling of typing out little blogs about specific things, almost never just going in with the need to type without a topic anymore, and I think it's cool that the number of people that read this blog do. Yesterday 21 different people viewed my blog. I'd say that number is padded because the recent came from list said they did an image search for guitar givaways and mortal DC, the two blogs that sill probably outlive me, and walked away disappointed. I'd say maybe eight of the people that came were genuinely interested in the blog.

That's fine with me. And maybe they'll tell their friends and maybe the ads will pop up with something that interests them and they'll click on it. Maybe I'll become super rich and an internet celebrity!

But I doubt it, and it isn't bringing me down. I like writing blogs, I like writing with you in mind, and I love the fact that someone reads it.

Thanks.