I checked my stats for last month and I only blogged two posts for the entire month of May. TWO posts.

Yeah, I probably should blog more frequently than that if I’m to get more traffic and achieve my dream of being a full time blogger who lives off the love and affection of his adoring audience.

Part of the reason for the lack of posts is that I simply had no energy to blog. And when I did have some energy, anything I wrote felt too silly or boring that I doubted anyone would have any interest in reading it, especially since I tend to rehash a lot of the same topics. Writing is the one thing I think I can be good at, so when it doesn’t seem to flow freely from my mind to the screen I get so depressed sometimes. I hate being in a funk like this. I’m hoping June will be better blogwise, and maybe from now on I’ll just publish whatever happens to be on my mind, even if they’re like the worst content I’ve ever put to paper in the history of the universe.

So even if my blogging does take a serious dive in quality for the month of June, what’s the worst that could happen, really?

Tags: audience, blogging, energy, funk, muse, posts, quality, traffic, writing
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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As I walked through the empty hallways of our esteemed governmental institutions today, a thought occurred to me:   drunk people tend to smell bad.

Then another thought occurred to me:   what if I ran out of things to blog about?  What if my muse finally stopped visiting me and decided run off with my creativity to the Galápagos Islands, never to be seen or heard from again?

Because you know, that would really suck.

I don’t think I have to worry too much though.  I’ve been blogging on and off for yea nigh 5 years now, and before that I kept a journal on my computer to express my thoughts, so in one sense or another I’ve always been a writer, and I probably always will be.

I do hope I’ll be able to blog more frequently as time goes on, and one of the things I’d like to be able to do for the new year is  get my blogging frequency up to at least once a day.  I think it’s just a matter of writing up enough posts and placing them in a scheduling queue, that way even if I’m feeling uninspired, the queue can regularly update my site with pre-written posts until I have something new to blog about.

It seems to be harder for me though because I generally avoid political and news related topics, whereas for others they can blog politics and religion and what all day long, every blinking day of the week, rehashing the same old crap, the same old arguments, the same old news, and yet for whatever reason people continue to eat it up.

Sorry, I just don’t roll that way.  Once in a while I will bless the populace with insightful and enlightening political/religious dissertations that will tingle the senses, but for the most part I’m just here for the comic relief, to regale my beloved audience with riveting stories of adventure, suspense, and nonstop excitement that will thrill the imagination and leave you hanging on to the edge of your seats!

And that’s just when I’m brushing my teeth too.  Imagine if I really did something exciting. 

Tags: audience, blogging, creativity, muse, politics, religion, stories, writing
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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I’ve been trying to decide what to blog about lately, but I got nothing here.  Seriously, nothing.  I’m off from work this week though, so I might chance a one day road trip somewhere just for the heck of it and blog about that, but other than that nothing’s happening.  I’m not getting any emails, no phone calls, no instant messages, no hot girls ringing my doorbell and telling me I’m the man of their dreams.  NOTHING.

So I turn to you, my beloved audience for some inspiration.  What would you like me to write about?  Suggestions, anyone?  Anyone?

Tags: audience, blogging, funk, inspiration, suggestions, writer's block
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
 
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A guest blogger at JohnChow.com challenged the audience in commiting to writing at least one blogging post a day for 20 days. Apparently if you make something a part of your daily routine for about three weeks, it will eventually become a habit and thus a routine that will be easier to stick to.

I decided to answer the challenge as well, since one of the big problems I’ve had in getting this blog going was my history of erratic posting frequency. I have to admit I was actually afraid to link to Chow’s blog because he’s currently in the Google doghouse for engaging in controversial link building. I thought if Google saw that I linked to his site, they would think that I was another evil fan of his and then blacklist me from their search index for all eternity, forever doomed to the dark pits of internet obscurity.

I think I worry too much.

As for what’s holding me back, I think the main reason is TIME. I’m spending a lot of time working at my job, catching up on my news feeds, tweaking my site, reading up on affiliate marketing, learning about microstock photography, gaming, watching TV, staring into empty space, just about everything EXCEPT blogging. I make no time for it at all, and it shows.

There’s another reason for this though: I have nothing to write about. Well nothing that I think will at least interest anybody. I think my writing sucks monkey’s balls too. No matter how good an idea I have for a blogging post, it never seems to translate well on “paper.” Somewhere in the blogging process things get jammed up and the end result is mindless crap. Maybe as I attempt to blog more often things will get better. Maybe not.

Maybe I need a life. Maybe I need a woman too.

Tags: affiliate marketing, audience, balls, blog, blogger, blogging, chow, daily, doghouse, empty space, eternity, google, habit, inspiration, john chow, life, monkey, muse, musing, obscurity, oogle, photography, pits, routine, time, tweaking, watching tv, writing
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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After giving my first podcast a try, I noticed I couldn’t get the “Show/Hide Player” and “Popup” to work. It was already past midnight, but rather than just turn in and try again in the morning, I resolved to work on it until it was fixed.

I spent three hours on the problem and finally gave up at 3AM. Man was I cheesed. I hated it when something wasn’t working right, but the more I kept at it, the more it seemed to break. When I woke up the next morning, I sat down and resolved the issue inside of 5 minutes. Sheesh. I need to learn how to let things go until I can come back to a problem with a better frame of mind.

I had other issues to fix though, but nothing really urgent (an invalid feed here, a few poor link colors here, etc..) Still, I spent the better part of my day just doing blog related housekeeping. I hadn’t even eaten till around 4.

I think I need a life. With my plans of attending law school shot to hell, I guess with nothing better to do I’ve been turning my focus to blogging again, even though I’m still not really sure what my niche should be. Hearing the success stories of how some bloggers have managed to monetize their blogs to the point that they could quit their full time jobs has me wistfully yearning for the same. With few exceptions, there’s nothing I’d like more than to travel the states and abroad, living the life of a nomad without being tied down to a job that keeps me in one place. And wherever I went, I’d use my newfound freedom to try to help people. It was the kind of life I could only dream about.

Theoretically, such a life could be possible by being a professional blogger (or writer). But the problem with me is that I have nothing interesting to offer (which also explains why no woman wants me either). I don’t have the kind of material that could draw a large crowd, and I’m just not smart enough or creative enough to build content that could land me a sizable audience. The really sad thing is that I consider writing to be one of my better talents, and I still suck at it. Ugh.

I guess even after 30 years on this planet, I still don’t know who I am, what I like, what I should do, or what I’ve been made to do. This sense of helplessness and lack of purpose is what continues to fuel the suspicion that maybe I wasn’t meant to be born after all. But if I was, then the question remains: who am I? Am I a writer? A preacher? A musician? An actor? A lover? No…. definitely not a lover.

I guess hiding under a rock for most of my life has made me completely ignorant of what really matters to me. Maybe the more I put myself out there, the more I can come to know where my niche really lies.

Tags: audience, blog, blogger, bloggers, blogging, creativity, exceptions, frame of mind, freedom, full time, housekeeping, job, law school, life, monetize, niche, nomad, podcast, problogger, purpose, shot to hell, talents, travel, writing
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
 
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I know I haven’t been blogging worth a skinny minny for the past few weeks, but I just have nothing to write about that would be appropriate for a blog. I usually spend most of my online time on a conservative forum, and I’ve met some great people there who genuinely make it a fun place to visit (no single hot chicks though). As a result, I have far less incentive now to blog here, where I generally have no audience, and where I’m simply unspired to write more than a paragraph or two of my personal thoughts.

My interest in law school has also begun to seriously wane as well. I simply don’t see the point in plunging myself $150,000 in debt for a career that I now only have a mild interest in. As much as my current job annoys me, I enjoy far too many perks now that I know I’d probably never enjoy again should I decide to become a lawyer. The whole idea behind my becoming an attorney anyway was to provide legal assistance to people at little or no cost, but more importantly, under MY terms (without having to toe the line with any firm that employs me). As I look at things now, I just don’t see how it could be done. I’ll wait until I hear from the local law school before I make a formal decision, but right now it looks like I won’t go through with it after all.

It may be that I’ve gotten too comfortable and complacent. Other than not having a social network or a girlfriend (which some people would say is a GOOD thing), I generally have everything I need: a beautiful car, a place to live, a smokin’ fast PC, a kick-butt laptop, and an easy going work schedule that allows me to work only four days a week. What more do I need really?

Instead, I should probably focus on getting myself healthy again and paying off all my debts, which is probably one of the best things I could do right now. If I continue to save for a year or so, I’ll eventually be completely debt free. That’s not an accomplishment many people can boast of, and it’s one of the things that preclude me from taking the law school plunge. Becoming debt free for the first time since I graduated high school, only to sink deeply once again into the red because I took the law school plunge is not something that sits well with me.

So as things are right now, my career prospects are at a standstill, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Tags: accomplishment, attorney, audience, beautiful car, blog, blogging, complacent, conservative forum, content, debts, formal decision, girlfriend, health, hot chicks, job, kick butt, laptop, law school, lawyer, legal assistance, paragraph, perks
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
 
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