I semi-blogged, semi-frequently, semi-anonymously for five years. The last post on my poor defunct blog was posted in February 2008. I was never much of a social blogger either - I never went to a London Blog Meet or commented much on other blogs, although I did read them, and I did meet a few early UK bloggers when I was researching my dissertation.
I wrote my MA dissertation on blogging, and how it was going to change music journalism. That was 2004, and even that late, not many people I knew had broadband. MP3 blogs were barely beginning, but I still feel I missed a trick on that one - this was a world where blogs could be the magazine and the free CD.Around 2007 I came to the conclusion (and I don't think I was alone in this, there was definitely an attrition in UK bloggers around then) that personal blogs were pointless. That actually topic-based blogs were infinitely more interesting and useful to their readers. But taking that to its logical conclusion, what you're left with is the Fuck Yeah single topic blog meme.
So, I was thinking about bloggers like Meg Pickard and Russell Davies, who are professionally involved with the web, and future web-ology. Both Meg and Russell (this is the web, not print, first names are obligatory) post a combination of personal anecdotes, professional information, and general ephemera. And their blogs are interesting and, though perhaps they don't post every day, I'm always happy to see their names pop up in my feed reader.
And now I'm realising that all that monetise your blog, SEO stuff is really only relevant if that's what you want from your blog. If all you're looking for is an outlet for your thoughts, then posting every day and creating listicles are unnecessary. What a liberating thought.
I'm putting my real name to this new site, like the bloggers I admire, and I find that I'm looking forward to filling it with fresh content. I'll post a little information about myself here shortly, and then we can get down to the important business of blogging.
It feels good to be looking at a posting window again.