Blogging On and Off
Christian Crumlish
Dave Winer writes today:
Adam Curry: "There's only one thing I dislike more than missing a day on my weblog, is when Dave misses a day on his." I love that sentiment, but it's good for me to take a day off every so often. Smell the roses, invent new stuff, make new friends, etc etc.
This is very important. Blogging unblocks a channel of expression into the public sphere. It's empowering. Feedback from readers is stimulating and the whole loop can build on itself and get very powerful.
This means though that at some point every blogger will face issues of equilibrium. You discover what "too much blogging" means if you don't have a rock solid way of managing the time and effort invested.
I liken it to listening and talking or breathing in and breathing out. All these years we've been able to take in stimulus from TV, radio, print media, etc., but in the last few decades the convergences of digital media with personal computers has resulted in an environment in which we can all take a bite off the media stream and spit something back out, just as samplers and hip-hop producers have done with the sounds bombarding us.
So it's thrilling after all these years to be able to exhale, but breathing out is only half the story, and frenetic blogging can take on the feel of hyperventilation. Backing off and taking a deep breath can help restore the swing of new ideas in and new thoughts out.