Sunday 28 December 2008

SO, WHAT'S IN A BLOG?

One obvious advantage of a blog over a book, is that you are free to decide what is published, and when. No need to wait until you have written 200 impeccably chiseled pages, no need to submit your masterwork to the arbitrary judgement of a reading committee made up of failed writers and spiteful misfits whose perverse pleasure in life is to prevent the work of anyone gifted from ever seeing print... (No, I promise, I have never had a manuscript turned down. Although I have a strange feeling that the odds of that happening in the future have just increased significantly)

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, freedom. That freedom is not total: by posting more or less on a daily basis (let's be optimistic) you are creating an expectation in your readers (assuming you have some - I did say optimistic, didn't I?) that you will sustain this rhythm forever, or at least until they get bored. But where are you to find the subject matter for such regular delivery? Most people try to find it in their own life, hoping to combine a steady supply of material with the cathartic effect of a candid reflection about the events of the day. Of course, whether a life that leaves them unfulfilled enough that they feel the need to write a blog is going to be of interest to other people, remains to be seen. You will tell me, won't you?

In any case, I must warn you that I make no promise about candidness, or indeed about regularity. If you don't hear from me for a few days, I will probably tell you I was busy, but you can safely assume that I was too lazy to write. Or that I lost my password. Or that I got a life... Stranger things have happened!

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