Heart and Mind

Another Blog on Blogging: Rules, Blog Navel Gazing, and Crappy Prompts

Even things that start out without rules tend to end up having rules if they stick around long enough. Even if there are no formal rules, there are unspoken rules, rules "in practice," if you will, that develop over time. I suppose we're routine beings. Even if we didn't have to get up for work and follow a clock, our days would still likely follow a pattern that an outsider—a being from another planet—would be able to see trends in.

Take this blog for an example. When I first started out, I envisioned something that was wide-open, where "anything goes." Well...I'll step back for a second and concede that the previous statement is not entirely true. Right from the start (and you can see it here in my first post), I mentioned that I wanted to avoid writing stuff that couldn't possibly be of interest to anyone in the world besides me. (You know, like your average Twitter entry. "I'm eating potato soup! Yummy!")

But I did say that "anything goes" here at Heart and Mind and that I would post "anything I feel like writing." And, although I'm very proud of my 140+ essays that I have published on here, I think I envisioned that I might have posted even more at this point. I figured I would be able to post more because I would have lots of little essays—tiny musings of maybe only one paragraph's length that didn't fit in with any of the other writing I do—among the larger essays that I would certainly have as well. After all, I have lots of little musings that can probably be stated in a paragraph or even a sentence.

But it didn't quite work out like that, because after a little bit of time went by, I started feeling like only certain types of posts fit under the Heart and Mind blog's umbrella. So unless I could make something of a one-sided "conversation" out of the topic, I didn't want to put it on here. I actually have considered at times starting another blog, a different one, that is limited to posts that are only one-line musings. I have a lot of thoughts that cross my mind where I could mention it and have it be somewhat quirky or amusing or enlightening, but I don't have much to say about it beyond stating the point.

At any rate, that one-liner blog hasn't happened (yet, anyway), but while this blog continues to pile up posts somewhat steadily, it has at times gotten slow. In part due to a lack of time, but in part due to a lack of material caused by my own personal veto system where I deem things not quite right for inclusion here in the Heart and Mind cannon. (Yes, I know that word is either pretentious, indicative of an over-heightened sense of self-importance, or just plain incorrect to use when talking about a collection of arguably "low brow" observations with lots of typos... but I dig it and try to use it as often as possible. Call it "personal vernacular.")

Since many blogs out there are updated daily or close to it, some might view the comment about things being "steady" here as laughable. In the early days, I was doing several posts a week, but things have slowed down over the years. But I actually said things are somewhat steady, and that's true. I can actually quantify it: I have had at the very least one blog entry in every calendar month since this thing started in 2005. There have been times where more than a month elapsed between posts, but there is something for each month on the calendar since September of 2005.

Now, I bring this up for a reason. Notice the date on the posting? It's the last day of the month. This blog entry is entirely the result of me feeling the need to get in a post before July's over. As I type this, I have less than three hours left to complete this task. And, you know, I've been thinking for the last week or so about what I could write here to meet the minimal quota I set out for myself. I started one musing about digital watches earlier in the month, which might still see the light of day here if I ever finish it, but I'm not really ready with that one. And I've had other ideas... about iPhones and car locks and stuff, but I just haven't been inspired to draft them up because I still question the worth of their candidacy for inclusion in this particular forum.

So, I decided to I look into something that I re-visit every now and then and am always disappointed with: "blog prompts." My, what a horrible waste those seem to be. I can never find anything good in the world of "prompts." Usually because they're terribly general ("Describe what you like about being you."), ridiculously uninteresting ("What is your favorite color?"), or too much to tackle in one essay ("How has the internet changed society?").

I suppose some might say I'm missing the point. I'm not supposed to take the task of answering these questions completely and accurately so seriously. Rather, I'm supposed to just use them as a little nudge to get my fingers typing and see where it goes. But that's not really how I work in blogging. In songwriting? Yes. In any number of other forms of writing? Maybe sometimes. But not with blogging.

But then again, here we are... at the end of a post that basically was an open-ended concept that I just kind of started typing on and turned it into a blog entry.

"Worst blog entry ever."

(Don't worry, I've been formulating some thoughts related to Nestlés Quik (or "NesQuik" for you new schoolers) that I'll probably post soon. Hey, they can't all be winners when you're fighting the calendar clock.)

posted by Steve @ 9:54 PM