I haven’t written anything here in a while, and my last couple of attempts to create some consistency have been haphazard at best (false starts at worst). Now, after spending some time revamping the ol’ website and adding a bunch of short fiction, I thought I’d give it another go.
Blog writing, and with it, some of the components of so-called “content marketing” are a part of how I earn a living – so I know that businesses still use this platform as a way to educate potential customers, add pages to their sites, and boost SEO in a variety of ways. That’s not really what I’m doing here (okay, maybe a little).
My initial approach to this stuff was to somehow offer advice, insight into my creative process, and engage with people through a medium I’m comfortable with: the written word. Now that social media is pretty much all video based, that people sharing their opinions via selfie video is common, that firsthand accounts and opinions are all over the place in more accessible, more curated (read: algorithmic), and frankly, more easily digestible formats, I wonder… Do people even read blogs anymore?
That beast of self-doubt rears its ugly head and I wonder if I’m wasting my time, if there’s even a point to expending the effort.
But then I have another, more freeing thought – and it’s one I like a whole lot more. Who cares?
If “nobody reads blogs anymore” but I like making them, and even one single person gets a teensy piece of enjoyment or inspiration out of it, then some vague notion of public opinion or trend shouldn’t stop me, right?
To me, that’s a much more interesting proposition, and perhaps a rarity in our current landscape of commoditizing everything: making stuff just because – with no overarching strategy or plan to monetize. No research-based gap to fill or target market to address. Maybe it’s folly in some circles to take such an approach, and probably a part of why I don’t make a very good businessman… But in the realm of art (NOT commerce), it’s a philosophy that serves the proverbial spirit in ways that a calculated game plan never can.
Strategy has its place, of course, and I’d like to continue improve my abilities there… But the other side is just as important: diving in for the sake of trying things out, embracing a “devil may care” attitude and not letting perception of a “market” dictate creative choices.
Sure, a silly little blog is hardly a creative risk, but the point is so much bigger. Paint what you want to paint, play the music that oozes from your pores, follow your heart into weird niches that nobody seems to care about. Maybe it won’t garner any attention. Maybe you’ll pivot later. Maybe I’ll let this slide again and being a consistent blogger is a pipedream… SO WHAT?
Making stuff isn’t just about the finished product. It’s about what happens to our hearts and minds when we engage in the playful act of exploration and experimentation. It might not grow the following or the bank account, but it grows our humanity.
Does anyone read blogs anymore?
I don’t know, but I’m writing them anyway.