P.C. Shannon

I’ve had a sort of blog fatigue recently. I think it’s partly a result of not having anywhere near as much free time to spend on it, but it’s also because of what I had wanted my blog to be. When I first started four years ago, it was largely because I gotten one of the first camera-phones, and I wanted to post pictures from it to the web. I also posted some stuff because I thought maybe some folks would be interested in a chronicle of grad school or something; I didn’t want my blog to just another self-obsessed online journal. Clearly I was deluding myself.

Within the last year or so, I’ve tried to refocus my blog. I wanted it to be more about science and technology and stuff—science nerdliness and assorted geekery. I tried to limit my posts to things that I could classify under that description. The problem with trying to be a topical, specialized blogger is that I have high editorial standards, and that acts as a big impediment to writing.

Without much time to create content much less promote my blog, I’m owning up to the idea that I’m just never going to attract much of a readership beyond my wife and best friends. I was probably delusional to think that I would ever be a marginally successful blogger, but blogging is nothing if not a narcissistic, self-indulgent egotrip.

That being said, I’m going to embark on a third phase of my blog: anything goes! Cat pictures, baby pictures, reality tv rants, and link posts are all fair game. Gone are grammar and editorial standards. I’ll stay away from talking about politics and bodily functions, but I may touch on religion simply because it’s starting to become a bigger focus in my own life.

This is an experiment. I’ll see how much content I can generate, how much fun it is, and whether it’s worth my time. Right now, I feel reinvigorated about my blog, rather than a sense of groaning obligation about it. We’ll see if that lasts.

Stuff You Don’t Care About

Right now, tags aren’t working. Since this is an experiment and for technical reasons, I’m not going to fix them immediately. I’ll worry about it if the experiment is successful. I’ll probably also make some changes to the site’s design.

See? I told you you didn’t care.