Blogging
At the start, I had the same general attitude about blogs as I do about dogs. I try to avoid dogs because I'm afraid I might like them. Dogs are the original dirtbags. They're a pain. But if I open my heart, they can sneak in. Now I think I'm more attached to my girlfriend's dog than to her. Good thing Melinda never reads my blog.
Anyway, I'm having another of my crises of conscience about the blog. I want to love it, I really do. It's just that I have a lot of other things that I like to do more, like read. I'm the type who has several books going at once. This morning, I counted and I think it's currently seven: A book on the Bird-Magic NCAA title game in 1979; a book of Charles Bukowski short stories; Team of Rivals, about Abraham Lincoln; a Tom Waits biography; The Good Earth (which I only read while waiting for the shower to get hot); The Eye in the Door, the second book of Pat Barker's WWI trilogy. Let's see, that's six.
Oh, the seventh is one I bought yesterday. It's The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. I don't think I've ever bought a book before about how to do something. It's just in my nature to resist instruction and guidance. I stood there at the book pile at Barnes and Noble. I picked it up, put it back down, considered a Red Sox Reader, went back, picked it up and put it down again. Finally, I broke down.
On the first page of the introduction, Ken Lerer quoted from Moneyball, one of the best baseball books ever written. So it wasn't such a bad choice after all. Anyway, I'm reading about the history of blogging and what makes for a good one and I'm committed to doing a better job.
Hey, it's the future. Some day I might actually have to do it for a living -- I mean, if all the newspapers disappear from the earth. It's scary. I long for the days before Internet, when you could write pedestrian stuff and only the people in Buffalo would notice. Blogging only makes it clear that most people are just as smart as I am. It's just that I have a forum. But it's a little humbling to know hundreds of people actually click on to see what I have to say -- if only to confirm their belief that I'm a nitwit.
All right, that's it for now. I'm going back to reading my blogging guide. To be honest, I've never even been on the Huffington Post. Might be a good idea to check it out. Oh, I'm also playing Strat-O-Matic baseball with my son these days, if you have any thoughts on that obsession.
