I’ve had bloggers block lately.
I received several suggestions on how to break it. So here I am, trying to follow up on all of them.
First: Write about something. Lower your standards and just write.
Perhaps the bloggers block also comes from my new Posterous blog aptly subtitled “Digidave’s Quickies: Not exactly a blog post. Too long for Twitter.”
I used to write personal blog posts here. This is space both for my professional thoughts but it is also my personal journal. Something I can use to remember funny moments and sad memories. From my Thanksgiving in Atlantic City to the passing of my grandparents. Obviously my personal life continues but I haven’t really written about any of it here on Digidave.org. When I started this blog I was 23. I am fast approaching 28 (AHHHH!!!!!). I can never tell what is or isn’t appropriate for this space. I look at Jeff Jarvis blogging his cancer and I’m inspired. At the same time – I’m no Jarvis. Nor do I have a life experience has heavy as cancer to share.
The deepest thoughts I might have are those of somebody who still feels as though he is 17 but is fast approaching 30. Laugh all you want – my peers and I have this conversation all the time. I think it is particularly strong for folks my age who are either the youngest of the Gen Xers or the oldest of the Mellenials. I feel stuck in between.
Suggestion 2: Do a round-up of things that have caught your attention.
By this I think most people meant a link-fest. Anyone that knows me should know that I am a big believer in aggregation as a way to serve the reader. But lately I haven’t had time to keep up with everything. So instead of a link to other articles I’m going to do a round-up of things I’ve been doing.
1. Publish2.com. I’m an advisor and it’s on my mind a lot lately. I’m loving the new interface for WordPress (hat tip Daniel) and I think they are about to hit a nice stride with more tools.
2. NewsInnovation.com: I spent last week in New York. The timing was great because Spot.Us freelance Lindsey Hoshaw had a piece in the NYT. I was out there for the third New Business Models for News Conference. I helped to organize the first two with Jeff Jarvis. I helped with this third one as well – albiet a smaller role. I naturally stepped back to focus on Spot.Us. I could do a whole post on this conference, working with Jeff, etc. But intsead I’ll point to Jeff’s post about what was one of the better take aways.
3. Spot.Us launched November 11th 2008. It has been a year. I want to do an epic blog post about it. But I fear this milestone may go unrecognized if I don’t get past this writers block. But it goes without saying that Spot.Us is on my mind all the time. It is certainly #1 in my mind even if it’s #3 in this list. Also – I’m trying to keep focused on the redesign and not get distracted by all the student quiries.
4. That last bit is a handfull. I LOVE j-students. I want to hug them and encourage them in every way I can. I try to make myself availabe and as open/honest as I can. But lately it’s stating to take a toll. It feels as though I spend one full day a week answering questions for j-students (international or otherwise) ph.d students who are studying the future of journalism or doing Skype calls with students. Again, I love it. I want to encourage everyone to do their own startup. But every now and then I reach a limit and just want to put my head down and work. I view my working on Spot.Us akin to being on the front line of a war. I’m a grunt. I like to work like grunt. A big part of how I got to where I am is that I wanted everyone to consider me the hardest working kid in journalism. While working for Jay Rosen on NewAssignment.Net and at Columbia I got that reputation. I intend to keep it. Talking with students does help (me and them) but it is not my main goal.
5. Broowaha: I bet you didn’t know that I am the editor of a citizen journalims site Broowaha.com. Well, I am! I am not exactly on the front lines of this site – but I am a part of the community. It keeps me rooted and honest when I discuss issues about citizen journalism. So no – I’m not just a talker, I’m a doer. And Broowaha is what gives me my experience in pure play citizen journalism stuff.
6. Life. Life is happening all the time. I suppose that is a bit of a reason for the bloggers block. It seems to be happening so fast this past year. Being in NY this last week reminded me of where I’ve been. This could also be a long post. One where I’d go over my fond memories of NY. Conquering certain things – losing others. All my friends who are in NY, which include a ton of my best friends from childhood, etc. I’ll spare you the sentimental dribble right now but a part of me just wants to let it pour all out.
Despite that last sentence, I’m actually going to cut myself here. As you might have guessed from the title of this post – I’m not sure where I was going with this. Then again, it’s nice not to have a destination.