As you may already be aware, this post did not start with, “On this day in…” That’s because I decided, only today, that I’m not going to do regular anniversary posts anymore. I’m not going to do morning music posts either. There are various reasons for this, not the least of which is that they have become too rote. But the biggest reason is that I find they are taking away from the fluidity of the blog. Pretty much every day, I find that there are two feature articles that I want to post. But I don’t have the time.
So I’m going to go back to writing about whatever I find that is interesting. As a going concern, the anniversary posts and morning music will go away. But the posts about historical events and music will not go away. In fact, the other day, I had wanted to write something that I considered insightful about a song, but it didn’t fit into the theme this last week. What’s more, it would have been a lot longer an article and I didn’t want to waste the effort on de rigueur posts that I just don’t think are as important in the grander scheme of the blog.
Doing these daily posts made sense when I was running Frankly Curious as a publishing house. They were always supposed to be two easy ones I could do to go along with what was an ever growing schedule of feature articles. But from now on, I’m taking the site back to my original intent: whatever interests me. And the truth is things are just piling up. Before I started writing this, I closed about a dozen tabs related to articles I had wanted to write about. But I still have many up that I hope I can now get to:
- How NAFTA affected Mexico;
- Acrophobia and free will;
- The Game of Life and non-goal oriented entertainment;
- Medieval currency and modern monetary policy;
- Fun as a goal of education.
And that’s just some of them. That last one reflects on this decision, because doing the anniversary posts and morning music were not fun for me anymore. And I want to enjoy my time at Frankly Curious, because it is a major part of my social life. And it has always been the random nature of Frankly Curious that made it interesting. At least, that’s what I’ve always thought. It’s the place to go to check out what’s on my mind. I can assure you, yesterday, the sinking of the Lusitania, was not on my mind.
At the same time, I’m in the process of creating what’s called “cornerstone content.” There are certain things I’ve written about a lot, and I want to create major pages (not posts) for them. Right now, I’m working on one for Don Quixote. As it is, I think that Google ought to rank such a page at number one for “Don Quixote translations.” (Currently, I think I’m at about number nine.) I’m one of very few people who write about all the English translations. And I’d like to get all my thoughts in one place.
Anyway, with the morning music and anniversary posts gone, I am expecting to do two feature articles per day. I’m planning to stick with the one scheduled post at 11:05 am. And then another one at some other random time. But I’m not going to kill myself on that. And I may post pointers to updates in pages that I’m working on. Regardless, I won’t be working any less. I’ll just be working differently. Goodbye morning music and anniversary posts.
Well, I enjoyed the anniversary posts, but I usually just skimmed through the music posts myself.
But the important thing is that you write what you enjoy. The last thing I want is to see yet another blog writer I like burn out.
If you’re taking votes, I’d like to see the Medieval currency and modern monetary policy post first, and the Game of Life and non-goal oriented entertainment second.
I’ll see what I can do, but there is some recent work on Cervantes’ ancestry that I want to talk about. I should get to that medieval coin article because it’s really interesting. But will see. The truth is I never know until I start writing.
And yes: I don’t want FC to stop. But there does tend to be a life cycle for blogs. Most never gain any traction. But those that do usually find they hit a wall and then they are more or less maintaining. And that isn’t nearly as much fun as growing. But my push for cornerstone content is indicative of my commitment to continued growth.
Thanks!
Yeah, I almost never read the music posts. And I’m interested in the NAFTA post, as I’m dubious of the hyperbolic claims that it’s the worst thing ever in the history of the U.S. We can see that Trump is already planning to use it as a major front against Clinton. I trust you to employ some nuance.
The fundamental problem is that modern trade deals really aren’t about opening up markets; they are about giving corporations special privileges over governments. I don’t think NAFTA is the worst thing ever. But the fact is that in an economic system where virtually all productivity gains go to the very rich, why should any of us want to disruption? NAFTA was good for trade. But increasing trade is not an end in itself. Nuance? We’ll see. I can’t promise any…
When I first started reading this blog less than a year ago, you were doing six posts a day and now it is down to two. How life changes since the vast majority of it seems to stem from you becoming more and more successful at work.
That’s the good side of it. As Joni Mitchell said, “Something’s lost and something’s gain.” But I think this is going to be good. I feel better about tomorrow’s posts. The feature posts seem “real.”
All I know is I am tired of having my hair so long damn it. Friday will never come!
I think it will be fine for you-you need to write on stuff you care about and eventually the anniversaries were going to run out.
Well, if I could devote two hours per day to them, I don’t think I ever would have. There is an amazing amount of things have happened. But I was usually in a position of finding something I could finish in a half hour. And history is complex. But yes, this is working out really well. It’s probably more work, but it’s also more fun.
Fun is a good thing. We don’t have enough fun or respect it enough. Everything is work work work work.
Different strokes for different folks — while I rely on this blog as a source of thoughtful analysis like the stuff Dave L. and Jurgan enjoy, it’s the life/entertainment posts that make it special IMO. (If we’re voting . . .)
There’s a live podcast of Ween I enjoy where the band says “you can’t beeping complain, this bleep is free.” Exactly. When it’s done strictly for fun, one should do what one’s interested in. (I wish I was interested in more myself these days, but my energy level is basically subzero . . .)
Thanks. The constricted nature of the morning music and anniversary posts, makes them less interesting. I feel better about tomorrow’s posts. I think it will be more interesting for readers.