Comments on: You are Your Most Important Audience

By: Daniel Schildt

Daniel Schildt — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 03:15:51 +0000

No, I didn't say that you said those things originally; I just generally said that those things were said in good way. Anyway…

By: stephen o'grady

stephen o'grady — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:04:00 +0000

Fraxas: unquestionably, we also write for others. much of my commentary is intended for popular consumption as much as it is for me, but it's for me first and foremost. little bit of both is probably a good thing.

Daniel: thx, but the credit actually goes to the other folks. i'm merely repeating their wise lessons.

By: Daniel Schildt

Daniel Schildt — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:35:42 +0000

Well said about writing (and basically much more than just just that). If creator is not interested of what s/he is doing, final outcome of creation process could be much less interesting than in situation where s/he putting the best for it.

By: Fraxas

Fraxas — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 10:43:15 +0000

I was reading Nigella Lawson's excellent cookbook How To Eat last night, and there was a related point in there — she spends an entire chapter on meals for one, and in her introduction to the chapter has the following two excellent quotes:

"Most people can't help finding something embarassingly onanistic about taking pleasure in eating alone."

and

"It's virtually impossible to be innocent of [the tense-necked desire to impress others]."

I think those statements are true of bloggers too; I'd like to think that there are at least a few people out there who find what I have to say interesting, and there is something a little hubristically embarassing about putting something that you're writing only for yourself on the public internet.

That said, I take your point — if I wasn't interested in what I'm writing, I wouldn't be writing it.

By: stephen o'grady

stephen o'grady — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 23:01:59 +0000

hi Eric: i see the point, and while i'm certainly not against categories or category specific feeds, i'd stop short of requiring them. i simply haven't found them necessary in my consumption.

case in point is Jeremy Zawodny, who's very into flying/gliding, and posts a lot about that. i personally am not that interested in the topic, so i just skip those posts.

if jeremy posted the majority of time on that topic, i might see the benefit, but most of the bloggers i read are measured in their commentary on off topic subjects.

but maybe that's just me.

By: Eric Boutilier

Eric Boutilier — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 20:01:04 +0000

Stephen —

Something about this post (and Shel Israel's and Jim Grisanzio's — with
whom I've discussed this very topic recently) caused me to ruminate on
it for prit-near my entire ~30-minute commute today.

So here's what I think (I think ):

I agree, but in addition to the belief that bloggers should write mainly to
please themselves, I'd add this: Reserve a little time to categorize their
posts and offer per-category feeds.