Instapundit turned 12 years old this week, and received appropriate accolades.
It’s not an overstatement to say that Prof. Reynolds has helped foster and keep up the spirits of the conservative blogosphere, including Legal Insurrection and College Insurrection.
Which brings me to a related topic, blogger burnout.
Legal Insurrection turns 5 in October, and 12 seems like next century.
A friend of mine told me about his blog, and how overwhelming it can feel sometimes to create new content multiple times a day, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, almost without break. “The beast must be fed” is a phrase my friend uses often.
I have little sympathy for that friend. He will find dozens of blog posts around the internet about how to cure his blogger burnout.
What’s my remedy? To make fun of people who suffer from blogger burnout, because I don’t want to be one of those people:
If I hear another blogger complain about blogger burnout, I’m going to scream….
Let me guess, you worked the fields all day, so you don’t have the strength to push down on the keyboard with your bloodied, swollen fingers?
What’s next, a co-blogger to ease the burden of cutting and pasting cut-and-pasted blog posts from other similarly exhausted bloggers?
Haven’t you figured it out, there is only one original blog post which, like the source yeast at the Guinness brewery, has been kept alive for generations so that others may cut from and paste to it.
It’s not rocket science.
You obviously do not have what it takes to make it in this business. Unlike me.
Now I feel better.
I just wish my friend could feel better too, and not worry that the voracious content-consuming beast needed to be fed again.
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Comments
I guess those people who suffer from “blogger burnout” never have heard of a daily diary?
Heck. That’s all a blog really is, except perhaps to focus not on the personal aspects of life, but rather on the issues which affect the personal aspects of life.
If you ever decide to stop, Professor, you will still have generated a solid historical record on the inanities of government gone wild in “the last days”. 🙂
American Power turns six in October, and there’s no slowing down. It’s easier if you’ve got some blogging friends and reciprocal linkage, and of course Instapundit sends thrills our way every now and then. And Althouse has a little rule of doing at least one post a day, which means hanging out doing other things the rest of the day. So, onward and upward!
I got somethin’ to say; It’s better to burn out THAN FADE AWAY!!!!
Extra points if you name the song and the band.
Blogger Burnout?
What about those of us who work the fields all day and yet still find the strength to push down on the keyboard with our bloodied, swollen fingers to search the net for news to help provide bloggers with more info for their blogs, then complete the circle by reading the opinions of said bloggers on what we posted while they were still in the basement in their jammies?
Cry for us!
We’re all political junkies trapped inside a Giant Bloggers World with no end in sight.
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Joking aside, I sincerely hope that LI and all great blogs flourish.
Your voices speak louder than ours.
We ‘beasts’ need you now more than ever to help us spread the truth.
for the past 17 years i’ve been scouring the net for news stories related to my profession. day in day out sharing with 2500+ folks around the world via listservs, twitter and a yahoogroup. sometimes I think of quitting, but then I get a surprise message from someone saying “hey thanks for doing this. it helped me with…” and that short note will keep me from quitting
Unless you’re making money at it, it’s a hobby. If your hobby isn’t fun, find another hobby.
Of course, there are two big topics I’d love to see you cover again, and again.
Zimmerman’s wife’s perjury trial is due to happen within days or weeks.
And, the other? Please reminiscent on things you found fascinating about your trip to Israel. Here? Well, I really had hoped you’d see the Altalena memorial on the beach in Tel Aviv. But even bigger, I just read (at Mosaic, I think.) That every Friday night Tel Aviv does an outdoor Shabbat service, with people single and dancing in the streets “welcoming the bride.”
The context of this Shabbat service is that Israel has more than just the ultra Orthodox. (Though it is only the ultra Orthodox that got political powers. Which came from Ben Gurion.)
Instead, in America, and also Jewish remnants left in Europe, the ultra-Orthodox were not the “main event.” Instead, here, we have 3 healthy branches of Judaism. All really without political clout, save, we are told, it’s AIPAC. As far as I know I’ve never met anyone who belonged to AIPAC. But yes, conseratives. They are at the Pasadena Jewish Temple. And, Reformed Jews who belong to the Temple in Temple City. I’d bet anyone from any of the areas in the United States where Judaism is practiced … certainly make their ways to the Wall. But, you bet, The open air synagogue in Tel Aviv would be recommended as well, no?
I don’t think the bloggers from Israel ocver all the ground. I think there’s lots of stuff that draws peoples’ imaginations back …
So, perhaps, you can add more details of a trip that really never ends, once you’ve traveled there.
And some still seem to think that the Professor has no sense of humor…
…and humor, snark, sarcasm, and alike will not be tolerated on this blog.
it’s not you, it’s me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8TnhNxKNlU
So grateful for your reporting and insight. Plus editor/publisher magic to pull together your splendid contributors. And that you’re here at Cornell … In Tompkins County … and speak sanity! Gracias!
I also so enjoy reading the comments of the followers you’ve attracted.
You might not care about this so much, but I wish you monetization of your site … so your influence will increase.
If a blog is successful, then one can attract others to help carry the burden of finding new material.
One key is to take regular breaks and allow those others to expand the reach while the primary blogger can recharge his batteries.