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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Making a point


I violated my own "don't write a long post" rule when I wrote about my dog Shep. But the rule was more tongue in cheek than pronouncement. I think the number of words should match the occasion. Shep deserved a few more paragraphs than my usual drivel. Though I seriously doubt that, unless he was your dog, it was a riveting piece of prose and captured too many people's attention.

Which is the point about blogging versus writing. If you make your living writing, you don't have the luxury of self-indulgence (unless, of course, you are someone like Stephen King...then you have enough money to indulge yourself to your heart's content). Blogging, on the other hand, is by and large always about self-indulgence. You write what you want when you want.

This is what makes blogging addictive and cathartic. It is also what makes it an iffy proposition if you are looking to be entertained on a regular basis. Let's face it, day to day life just isn't that interesting. Me writing about cleaning my desk and finding a ten-year old doughnut in a tape dispenser (don't ask) is fascinating to me, but not to a lot of other people.

I think this is why blogging hasn't caught on to a mainstream audience. They are too busy watching reality TV shows about the Dallas cheerleaders to waste time reading random thoughts from millions of strangers. And it is why any of the delusional bloggers out there thinking they are going to be discovered and made famous blogging are in for a very long wait (as in snowball's chance in hell).

Oh well, I'd better get back to cleaning up my desk. I need to find some coffee to go with that doughnut.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Let's face it, day to day life just isn't that interesting."

Actually, it seems everyone else's life is way more interesting then my own, so how you came to find a decomposing piece of fried dough in your tape dispenser makes this inquiring mind WANT to know. Reading your blog allows me to look in your windows without getting arrested....

Alex Pendragon said...

It was my day off and as part of my boredom avoidance routine, I dialed up Dizgraceland to see what words of wisdom the TimId would lay on me. My fingers caressed the keys in that unconscious fashion that delivers eye candy as easily as lighting a cigarette, which I could do with my eyes closed, only my eyes remained open for the benefit of his visual presentation. I could have simply commented on his point about getting to the point, only that would be too easy. No, Tim was not going to get off the hook if I could help it. I would get to my point in the lackadaisical, slow-as-molassas journey that most of us love and rely on which he dispises so much, using every arcane expression and word I could conjure up to flesh out my response. Short, concise comments live the lives of fruit=flies, and provide about as much meaning; wham-bamm-thank-you-Tim. I looked my comment over with a fine-toothed spell check, for such fine posts deserve only the most well tailored and correct returns. Satisfied that my meaning was well made and equally aggravating, I hit the "Login and Publish" button and waited for the verification that MY point had been made just as elequently.

Anonymous said...

Tim,
Don't bring me down man. I was supposed to be discovered via the blog. ;-)

I do find the donut discovery fascinating as I have recently discovered old, cold coffee in a forgotten Starbucks cup.

I think we find blogs interesting because you can interact with the writer (unlike reality shows). It's the interaction that keeps me coming back. Sure, our lives aren't interesting every day of every week. Sure, we post boring things ocassionally. The pressure of posting regularly makes boredom inevitable. You've lasted longer than anyone I know. You have continued to come up with new intersting topics. I could throw out any topic and 'ol Tim could write a great post on it and photoshop his face onto it.

Time said...

Miss Bliss, Just keep in mind that the soul is the window to the eyes. And the doughnut wasn't decomposing, just aged.

Michael, huh?

Shandi,
How much more famous could you be? I'll trade you half a ten-year old doughnut for some old Starbuck's. And thanks for the vote of confidence. My work life has trained me well how to write about any 'ol topic. And Photoshop helps me put my best face forward. :)

Time said...

Lights,
You are a point in yourself.