There were times when I was ready to say BLEEP this BLEEPING BLEEP, delete everything I’ve ever written on a WordPress blog going back to 2005 and flee straight to Tumblr, arms flailing all the way.

It’s the simplicity really, the idea that I could post something profound with as few road blocks as possible. No need to set meta descriptions, tags, categories, categorize every image I uploaded, set them as featured (or not), etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc….

Just post and go, Posterous style. That and of course, I wouldn’t have to deal with a rogue plugin that was hacked together by a 5 year old bringing down my site every 5 minutes either.

Technically, I could do that with WordPress, but just by virtue of having the capability of say, setting a featured image for every post I write compels me to, you know, set a featured image for every post I write.

It’s the mobile solution that really kills me though. While it’s as simple as literally phoning it in on Tumblr, doing the same on WordPress requires an act of God. Don’t even get me started on videos either. The WordPress app on the iPhone shrieks and screams like a doomed chick in a horror flick anytime I even think of attempting a video upload. My Lord.

But when I try get into Tumblr, I start to realize the obvious: it simply doesn’t have the robust features and abilities that I’ve come to rely on with WordPress, especially an advertising engine that allows me to easily set up ad buys on a subscription, and so on. To put it in other terms, WordPress actually makes me money, while Tumblr does not.

So I’m somewhere caught in between, instead trying to rely on the pseudo-Tumblr features of WordPress such as using Post Formats, as well as the “Press This” bookmarklet to help simplify the publishing/writing process for now.

Still, I miss out on the social elements of Tumblr, and I wonder if I shouldn’t finally join the party there (thus spreading myself even more thin across teh intertubez.)

Eh, maybe I’ll make it a 2012 resolution.

Who am I? What’s my purpose here? And where did this rash on my butt come from? *scratches*

These were questions that have been weighing on my mind lately, especially when I had to abandon an assignment I received after making a pitch to a popular travel site. The assignment was to write an article about leaf peeping during the fall, and I was hoping I could get an article published there to boost my credibility as a travel writer, and also finally start developing what journalists call a “clipping.” Clippings, if you don’t already know, are samples of work by a writer that were published at notable publications and popular sites. It helps to establish their authenticity as a professional writer, as well as provide proof that they have access to outlets with a high circulation of readers.

As far as that goes, I have zero credibility as a travel writer, because I’ve never been published any where. There may have been things published ABOUT me though (specifically police bulletins,) but I don’t think that counts.

So anyway, I make this pitch about leaf peeping in the Smoky mountains and how to avoid the crowds during that time, and it gets rejected. Partly because the topic was too narrow, and they wanted something a little bit more broader than what I proposed. So I re-pitched the same idea, only including a few other places besides the Smokies, and this time it tentatively gets accepted.

Only problem was, they wanted 8-10 destinations covered, including a few international as well, and wanted details on where it was, what makes it such a great place to see the leaves change, when to go, how to avoid crowds, etc.

And they wanted an outline in two days, AND a 1,200 word article draft in a week or less.

What?

I suppose that’s normal for journalists who face these kinds of deadlines all the time, but… what?

It was an unexpected broadside in a week where I already needed to complete a few time consuming projects, but I was hoping I could still get to it and eventually get the article published. But alas, it was not to be.

I noticed though, whenever I had time to spare for researching and developing the kind of article they wanted, that the art of writing was no longer becoming fun for me. It was starting to feel more like… work.

It didn’t help that I had to write in a format that I have come to absolutely DESPISE too, a format known as “list articles,” where every title starts with “X amount of ways to do <fill in the blank>.” And they are EVERYWHERE on the Internet.

“27 ways to wash your car!”
“13 steps to tweezing your nose hairs”
“6,240 ways that you can bite me”

Ugh. I can’t write like that. And when I try to, it always builds up my anxiety to the point where I have to physically stop and take a walk outside just to calm down again. I consider my writing to be a reflection of my personality, and when I have to write in such a rigid, stupid (yes, STUPID) format, it’s like I’m forcing myself to change my personality.

There are experts who say list articles are so predominant because they are highly popular and easy to absorb by people who tend to scan rather than read content on the Internet, and if I’m ever going to succeed as a writer, then I MUST WRITE THIS WAY OR BE A FAILURE FOREVER.

Oh, and it can’t be too long either, a rule I’ve already broken with this post. Oh, and it has to include lots of photos to break the monotony. Yet another strike against this post.

You know what? The world’s smallest violin just emailed me to say, “I don’t give a rat’s ballsack.”

Has it occurred to any of them that maybe people scan content not just for lack of time, but because 99% of what they read is utter, soulless crap?

Do I need to be a part of the problem here, even if it may be the only way I can establish myself as a legitimate travel writer to the point where I could do this full time?

Or maybe I should develop my own path, and see where the road leads from there?

It’s not that I shun the work either, but it should be a FUN kind of work, you know? I already have a soul-sucking, dead-end job, so why exert all this effort and play by the industry’s rules, only to exchange my current job for a career that will wind up being just as soul sucking? Stupid.

There’s a certain… debonair quality to how I write: comfortable, loose, carefree, and occasionally, somewhat insane. But that’s me. It’s how I express myself, and I find immense joy in that.

So I’ve made my decision. If I’m ever to realize my dreams of being a self-employed writer/blogger, then it must be on my terms.

Oh, and in case you’d like a more detailed explanation of what those terms are, please see my article, “19 Reasons Why the Internet Should Acknowledge the Dripping Awesome Sauce That is Me.” I’ll be publishing an eBook with the same title as well.

"Home screen" by Stylva

One of the reasons I neglect blogging is due to spending so much time trying to figure out how I can bridge and sync all the content I have scattered across different social networks. That includes trying to keep my check-ins consistent as well, but my Lord, it’s nigh on an impossible task.

For example, did you know Foursquare does NOT update Facebook Places? I didn’t know that either, until I started using it, and I was pretty nonplussed about it too. What this means is that my FB slim shady fans who rely on Facebook Places to keep track of me won’t know where I’ve been, unless they also happen to be following me on Foursquare. All the competing technology I’m seeing today has resulted in seriously fragmenting my audience, and I spend an inordinate number of time trying to bring it all together, so no matter what social network people choose to hang out at, they’ll all know what I’ve been doing lately.

What a pain though. I have readers who absolutely will not use ANYTHING outside of Facebook, readers who only use Twitter, readers who might use Gowalla, but not Foursquare, or Google Latitude, but not Gowalla, readers who surf photos at Picasa, but not Flickr, or videos at Vimeo, but not YouTube, and finally readers, God bless their pure hearts, who shun social media altogether and just read my blog directly. But whatever their preference, I want to still be able to reach out to as many people as possible so I can share my traveling experiences with all of them.

It does help a little when I see startups like Gowalla adding the ability to unite Facebook and Foursquare check-ins. Even then I still have to make some tradeoffs, like if I want to upload photos on Foursquare, I still have to open that app up and send a photo that way. Speaking of which, when I love editing photos on Camera+, but if I want to send it to Instagram, I gotta open that app up, send it out that way, then also have a copy sent to Flickr, which will then go to my blog, which will then update Twitter, which will then update FaceBook, which will then update Google+… oh wait, not it can’t. I’ll have to upload the photo separately via the Google+ app.

Whatever, I give up. I’m getting too old for this. I think I’m just going to have to pick and choose what networks I want my content piped to, and if you’re not on that network, well then, I never liked you anyway.

With my trip to Texas long over and my blog redesign finished, where do I go from here?

I’d love to be able to travel every month but for now I just don’t have the financial resources to do so. I need to save up enough cash to put away for a “rainy day,” as well as money for a new car, and someday a new house (for my parents.) All these things cost… well… money.

But there is one big trip I’m researching and planning for that I was hoping I could take in August, although it will now more likely be this fall: a trip to the Rocky Mountains, which would fulfill a lifelong dream of mine. I would tentatively land in Denver, Colorado, tour the city and then get a rental to go explore the mountains, maybe even wrap in a lengthy visit to Yellowstone Park too. Other than the Smokies in Tennessee, the Rockies are the only other region I’ve daydreamed about living in, and it’s exhilarating to know I may soon see it with my very own eyes. Maybe I’ll make a road trip of it instead, cutting through Canada so I can slice through Michigan and some of the other states I have yet to visit on my way to Colorado. It would make up for having to shorten my previous road trip because of the accident in Ohio too. We’ll see.

In the meantime there’s not enough going in my life right now to be able to blog on a daily basis, but I have an answer for that: fictional blogging! Along with my usual writing, I’ll have a new category/sub-blog where I will write the blogging equivalent of short stories that I hope you’ll find entertaining. It might be a little confusing at first since it’s all going to be part of one blogging stream, but suffice it to say, there will soon be TWO bloggers at the Habitation of Justice. Me, and… me! :-D Well, a fictional version of me that is. With a new name to distinguish myself from me, that way you and I don’t get confused.

Have I lost you yet? Don’t worry, I’ll make it easy enough to pick out the fictional from the normal blogging. Who knows, maybe some day I’ll be able to convert it all into a novel. For now it will just be a fun experiment that will finally give me the opportunity to do some creative writing at last. Even better, now with enough traveling under my belt I’m able to write about the locale my alter-ego visits with far more authenticity.

Stay tuned! My blog is about to get a lot more… interesting.