Blah blah blah blah

Blah blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah blah.

That's how I feel about this blog. Nothing very interesting, new or useful, at least lately - mostly just a rehash of tidbits from the web.

I, being especially interested in all things me, found the initial blog writing interesting because I was writing about things I knew about (how to make soup for example), things I was doing or had done, with some fictional or semi-fictional writing thrown in. I still do some of that but a lot of this seems almost filler-like to me now.

I think we have to be careful that the web doesn't get filled with this sort of mind numbing repetition, regurgitation of things written by others - we need original content, creative thought, individual effort, talent.

I can immediately think of two reasons why this blog is less than good, one simple which could be remedied simply and one complex that may never be remedied.

The simple reason has to do with the colorful, distracting, short-attention span nature of the web and why it is not a good "place" for writing. When I open up my browser I inevitably find things that catch my eye, that are not conducive to reflecting on what to write or how to write it. The simple remedy for that would be to write from a word processor (you can blog from Word) thus avoiding the distraction of a million and one things you could be looking at or reading about on the web.

There is something to be said for fewer options in helping us to accomplish a goal. A theory of constraints of sorts. If you set boundaries for a task, then you can begin to work, rather than spending an inordinate amount of time deciding what option is best. A couple of examples -

If you were setting out to draw a picture you could constrain yourself to using a pencil and a piece of paper, which would allow you to begin the task of choosing something to draw, working on the composition and actual drawing rather than spending time thinking, should I use watercolors, oil, charcoal, colored pencils, chalk, crayons, acrylics on a canvas, drawing paper, wood?

It sounds paradoxical but there is something very freeing about limited options.

Another example to illustrate the point that there is value to boundaries, constraints and limited options can be found in a work environment. Imagine you don't know what your job is. Depending on your place of employment this could be a real problem e.g. a hospital or a not so real but still difficult problem e.g. a technology related design firm.

If you are working at a hospital and your job is in the kitchen and you show up in the operating room - that's a real problem.

If you are working with a team of people designing/testing/building a piece of equipment it's not unusual for job roles to overlap, or at least for workers performing these tasks to need to interact. If your role is testing but you decide you would rather design, that can be a problem depending on how it's handled - specifically if your jaunts into the design work cause the person responsible for the design to waste time or lose focus, or you cause rework and repetition (because you are doing something the designer is tasked with, that he or she will have to do over) and last but not least - if floating from task to task causes you to overlook or neglect your assigned task (testing).

By constraining your options you can be freed to do some thing well, in lieu of a lot of things poorly.

Jack of all trades master of none, as they say.

The second reason this blog is blah blah blah blah has to do with remuneration and the reward system we provide for content providers. Let's define content to be the written word in this context.

Where do we go to find high value content?

My first choice would be books, followed by magazines and then newspapers. Let's say I wanted to write a blog about the current state of the labor movement in America. I could do that by using content from the web - in which case I become a re-packager. Not too valuable. Maybe I have some experience in that area which would help me write some things of value. Maybe I'm independently wealthy and can finance a study and then write about it as a hobby. Not too likely but possible.

Now assume I'm a writer with a track record and therefore hopefully have some financial resources available to support my writing. If I am writing a book on the labor movement in America it's not inconceivable that I could spend a year, or longer, visiting union halls, standing on picket lines, talking to union members, union and corporate leaders, studying reference materials in libraries. Working for a magazine or newspaper I could do the same thing on a limited timescale and budget.

So that's the tough one for getting rid of the blah blah blah factor – and why blogs for the most part (not to say there aren’t exceptions) will never reach the level of value of a good magazine or newspaper or certainly a book (not to mention movies or television) when it comes to learning or entertainment. It’s a capitalist model – you get what you pay for. Blogs are free.

I like to think of my blog as a very small town newspaper that would cost you about a dime (I don’t want to think it’s free because then it might have too many ads). You might find something interesting, something boring, something funny. The editor, writer, printer, delivery boy (me) has another job and just does this for fun.

Maybe you end up with hobby blogs being the equivalent in the writing world to what folk art is to the art world. It might not be high falutin, critically acclaimed but sometimes - something about a piece might just strike your fancy as pretty good or really good.

I hope so.