Rands I've just lacked the time to do it

Blogging is for…

The stale blog ritual sounds something like this, “I’ve been really busy doing BLAH, so I haven’t had time to update my blog, REAL SORRY ABOUT THAT.”

The ritual has been in full force as of recent. I would say major contributors this effect are folks are going back to school, getting or switching jobs, and, of course, people are getting laid.

So, blogging is not as much fun as sex. Big surprise there.

The bigger question is, is blogging for those without a life? Are bloggers those people who simply have too much free time? Maybe.

As I look back at the brief Rands in Repose history, it’s very apparent that at the time of it’s creation and subsequent months, I was in the final stages of my prior gig. Two hour lunches. Twice weekly back alley bridge games. Work-at-home Fridays. This is a man with free time. This is a man who needs a blog.

Fast forward to the last two months. A new gig. Lots of meetings. Not much web surfing… not much real surfing. Seven weeks have passed and I still have difficulty remembering to eat lunch. This periods are hyper-learning are luscious, but anything which isn’t on my calendar or in my bed hasn’t received any attention.

… and Rands in Repose is languishing. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write, I’ve just lacked the time to do it.

I APOLOGIZE TO ALL FOURTEEN OF YOU.

If blogging was something other than a hobby, perhaps something which generated revenue which put food on the table, something which had a compelling set of consequences, I’d probably spend more time at it.

This leads to two questions:

FIRST, Do you know of anyone who has gotten laid because of blogging?

SECOND, Do you know of anyone who has made decent money as a result of blogging? (By decent, I don’t mean $250 for selling t-shirts, I’m talking about sustainable revenue streams.)

19 Responses

  1. Konrad 22 years ago

    No and no.

    BTW, begging the question means using circular logic. Don’t use “this begs the question” to mean “this leads to the question”.

    — Grammar Patrol

  2. sisko 22 years ago

    I’d like to know whether there’s been a marriage caused (or broken) by a blog.

  3. Josh J 22 years ago

    Blogging is just another type of writing, you know. I have WAAAAAAAY too much time on my hands, and I’ve managed to devote most of it to another type of writing, the composition of a novel. If you (rands) can identify what makes a good story, you ought to.

    Anyway, my want to create, my imagination, and the fact that I lead a life UNWORTHY of a blog (boring for the most part, but I’m also a private guy, mostly, so mine would never be updated) have both kept me from starting a blog or e/n site, and have caused me to pen a growing, 115000 word novel.

    Also, I’m sure we’d all love to see (and buy) a tome called ‘Vegas: The Rands Way, by Rands’ Take that outline of yours and flesh it out! Also, see the movie ‘Rounders,’ thereby discovering the world of professional poker, and use that to help you understand the ‘serious fucking guys’ who gamble for a living in Vegas. (Self help and instructional books are the best selling english-language books right now, you know.)

  4. Ryvar 22 years ago

    First off, apology accepted YOU INGRATEFUL FUCK HOW COULD YOU ABANDON US?????. Secondly, there’s a message board I frequent with literally hundreds of forums that people use for various purposes – I have my own ‘blog’ forum, my own ‘coding’ forum, and so do many others. Anyway, because of my posting there (and the fact that everybody meets every 8 months to get drunk, insult game designers, and cause extensive property damage to the city the meet is held at), I met my fiance of 18 months.

    It’s not quite a real blog, but it’s nearly the same thing. So, my answer to your question is yeah.

    Also, Slashdot and a few Mac rumour sites have been abuzz with recently leaked news of Apple supposedly maintaining a fully functional x86 port of OSX as a backup plan. WHY ARE YOU NOT ALL OVER THIS LIKE AN UNLICKED PRICK, SIR?

  5. rands 22 years ago

    Maybe the only reason I’m working on a blog is to improve my spelling and grammar.

    Hmph.

  6. Tycho 22 years ago

    I met my fiancee on LiveJournal. So I guess that counts.

  7. Floid 22 years ago

    Suck.

    …and that guy who keeps getting Slashdotted, but he calls it a ‘column.’

  8. My site is simply about ritual. Write something, anything, no matter how inane or insipid, then upload it by ten p.m. mountain time. I spend at least thirty minutes a day on my site, rarely more unless I’m going to redesign it.

    Once you get in the habit of writing the more likely you are to write. I’m going to assume you’re not in the habit of writing so you’re getting tired because those muscles aren’t developed. Just do it once a day for a week by writing a paragraph. Writing “I HAEV NUTTIGN 2 SAY!!!! FUX0RS U!!!!” or something akin to that doesn’t count.

  9. I created my weblog two weeks ago as an example of my web design. I didn’t have anything to put into said site design, so i simply decided to make it into my weblog.

    Shit that’s an interresting story.

    I’m not sure if it was a good, bad or pointless idea yet, but i’ll let you know as it comes along. 🙂

  10. rands 22 years ago

    Here’s some folks who are trying to organize bloggers into a profitable entity: http://www.bloggingnetwork.com/Blogs/

    The problem that lies in this model is that it’s a mimic of the tired old proposition presented by About.com. Aggregate lots of content in one place, charge for it, and disperse the earnings to the collective after you cover your costs.

    Model reads like a winner until you realize that your content is being generated by folks who place value on their work with the following statement, “This is so much fun, I’d do it for free because, face it, it’s better than my day job.”

    With artists generally being unwilling to place any real value on their work, they’ll continue to get paid for what they charge.

    Not that this is a bad thing. It’s just a thing.

  11. my friend m-ndro got laid thru his diaryland (not exactly a blog, but still). apparently this girl left a msg in his guestbook and they started talking back and forth & both lived in the same city and things progressed. also, recently i read a blog (i think found thru metafilter) of some guy who was getting married through a woman he’d met through the blog. apparently she read it, emailed him, they started writing back and forth, and again, things progressed.

  12. no.

    um and no.

  13. I’m marrying a man I met because I sent an email to Dave Winer! (I knew he’d post it on his site.)

    http://www.anitarowland.com/journal/1998/061298.html

  14. I am the fourteenth one!

    are you saying that computer geeks get laid too? looking back i have never been both a computer geek and getting laid, it was an either-or kinda thing. even when dating computer geeks.

  15. Gottheit 22 years ago

    I’M # 15 W00T!! HAHA LOL A/S/L!!1 HEHEHE… K THX BYE!!

    Well, look at the bright side…You have one more viewer than you anticipated.

  16. Gottheit 22 years ago

    Actually…I just looked back and realized that you’re one of the posters in this particular forum. Sorry man.

  17. Stonewall Jackson 22 years ago

    Blogs are vanity projects for sheep with too much free time and money. Bloggers who want to profit with such enterprises may be looking at the stars, but ask anyone – their nuts are securely jammed in the gutter.

  18. Chuckler 22 years ago

    No and no, sorry.

    I made my blog so that whenever an old friend emails me with something along the lines of “So what’s new with you?” I can either: a) point them to the URL of my blog; or b) cut and paste. 🙂

    Also, I have a lot of free time.

  19. If you had a camera and decent tits, you’d get laid via blogging in a day or two, presuming your dick standards were low enough.