Monday, October 30, 2006

Answering LJ (Unfinished Business)

In response to my last post LJ wrote:

I've never understood dropping one blog site and creating another in an effort to change "persona's" per sae. Why can't one just keep the same site, but change the style? Or is it more that you don't want all the history attached to the new way? Please help me understand.


I have wondered whether writing in another blog would really be different than writing here. I might play with more adult themes, or write less about my life, but I would still be the author of the blog. I have tons of blogs and know how hard it is to give each of them a unique style that separates them from Firemind and keeps me and my readers happy.

Braindance is as much a response to the problems with Blogger as it is an 'escape' from Firemind. If I am happy with Firemind then the new blog needs something special to keep it going.

So what is 'wrong' with Firemind? Not much except that it is big and ponderous to republish when I experiment.

My problem is that I have been waffling about all of the 'unfinished business' associated with my blog. Firemind is about me and my life. I planned to write several posts about the last year but I haven't had the energy. Part of me wants to go ahead and part of me doesn't. When I think of blogging here and ask "what shall I write today?" all of the old business comes up.

Yes LJ, history is part of the problem. As I changed styles and tried new things other things were forgotten. My 'Book Lists' is an example of that. Furthermore, several of my community-building efforts like the 'Online Potluck' died this year. Firemind is a record of failures as much as it is of successes.

When I read my archives I feel like I am looking in a mirror. The past is there to help and haunt me. When I think of the future things are very different. In the blog I can finish some projects and move on or just move to a new blog. In real life things aren't as easy. There is very little unfinished business but not many plans either. I might be looking for change here because I can control it.

I am already finding myself writing posts at the other blog that I want to repost here. I will experiment and write what I want in both blogs - if Blogger behaves.

Cheers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for discussing this. It is not completely settled in my heart, but then again - I can't really comprehend trying to maintain more than one blog at a time. I can barely keep up with the one I have, and I approach is as a 'take it, or leave it' kind of blog (mine). I don't have other venue/subjects I want to pontificate soley on. Bravo to you for the juggling that you do do, even if you think you don't do it well. You're a better man than me :-)

Leon said...

Thnks LJ. Blogging is a passion for me and by spreading things around one blog doesn't get glutted. That's the theory anyway. ^__^