22 May, 2011

Methods and Materials of a Sometime Geoblogger: A Case Study

Ha!  Like this post will be anywhere near as scholarly as the title suggests.  It's just that Karen got me thinking again:
I want to know how geobloggers (and for that matter, bloggers in general) find the time and material to blog frequently! I exhaust my blog-dedicated time just reading five or six of my favorites every morning! 
I wonder the same thing meself, actually.  So I'll be asking that question during ye olde Summer Interview Series.  Let's begin with a willing subject: me.

Hullo, me.  How do you find the time?

The answer's simple, really.  I haven't got a life.

I'm not in school.  Job that requires no serious thought or overtime.  No significant other.  Not many local friends, certainly not many I go out with often.  No teevee shows I dedicate my time to (aside from Doctor Who, o'course).  Here I am, on a Sunday afternoon, me day off, pounding away at the keyboard, with no one but the cat for company.

I don't go to the movies.  Don't go shopping until lack of food or other vital items forces me from the house, and then it's just a commando raid, in-and-out at top speed, often with my poor intrepid companion in tow since we're in town for lunch anyway.  It's only in the summer that I get out and adventure, and then only on the weekends.  I've just chosen writing at the one thing that must always come first, and shunted everything else off into the corners.  Not everyone can do that, but they manage just fine anyway - I've no idea how.

Mind you, I haven't got much time for blogging.  I'm writing books (yes, plural), and that means the vast majority of my time is devoted to non-blogging activities.  I've carved out a four-hour chunk of time on Sunday afternoons to write the week's posts, and I spend that week when Aunty Flow's visiting to fill in any gaps, considering I'm no good for fiction writing then.

I've learned over the years that trying to do this on a day-to-day basis doesn't work for me.  I can't carve the day up into such tiny chunks and give everything the time and attention it deserves.

As far as blog reading, I've got some time in between calls at work, usually, and an hour or so a night while I'm scarfing dinner to catch up on whatever else I've missed.  Multitasking is key, people.

So that's how I find the time.  As for subjects... that's usually the easy part.  There's you, my dear readers: you so often say something that gets me going.  Sometimes I'll riff off of something I've read on another blog, or there's a meme going round, or something I've read in a book recently catches my fancy.  Things come up when I'm worldbuilding that demand to be shared.  Important anniversaries, certain holidays, and other assorted special days are always good possibilities.  When I get maudlin and nostalgic, I'll turn that into a post or several.  I've learned to just go with whatever shiny thing is glittering away in front of me, because I can't guess what my readers will like.  Some of the posts I've published only because I'm a raging narcissist or too busy to write better have been the posts you lot like best, so I've learned to just throw it out there.  If it flops, 'tis not the end of the world.  There's always tomorrow.

This present exercise in narcissism has gone on long enough.  I'm turning the floor over to you: care to answer Karen's question?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My meteorite monday series was born out of a desire to have at least one post a week. Between work, school and studies, I don't have a whole lot of time for lengthy in depth posts. So, I went with meteorites because it's something I know just enough about to squeeze out a somewhat decent post without a whole lot of preparation.

Eunoia said...

I'm a fast old guy, relatively speaking, so time dilates for me ;-)

There's you answer : c ?

Anonymous said...

I have a team of 1,000 monkeys at keyboards. At the end of the week I just inspect their work and pick the one with the fewest typos. Viola! New blog post.

Karen said...

Thank you, Dana!

Rockdawg said...

I often wondered how you did it. I always thought you just didn't sleep. Its nice to know you do sleep occationally.
I do enjoy your stuff, keep it coming.

george.w said...

"Hullo, me. How do you find the time?

The answer's simple, really. I haven't got a life.


No. I do not accept this. It is based on the "Get a life" insult hurled at geeks by people who live in the suburbs, watch sports and go to Disneyland.

Your life is a bunch of stuff that fascinates YOU. When most people tell you to get one, they mean you should be doing stuff that doesn't challenge them by example, that makes them comfortable.

I once knew a guy who died photographing an old abandoned industrial building. He literally died for art. Well played sir, well played. Most of us die for cheeseburgers and television.

You have a life. An AMAZING life. Don't let any acculturated internalized little voice tell you otherwise. You ROCK.