Blog Version 2.0

You either have or have not noticed that I haven’t posted anything in ages.  If you haven’t noticed, then I guess that my writing is not that interesting. I became disillusioned with writing and with my blog, for several reasons.  Writing takes time and effort.  I don’t always have a lot of time, and sometimes it’s just easier to shelf it.  Writing takes inspiration … and, while there are many things I have to share, I have not been deeply inspired by anything specific for a while.  Writing takes motivation. 

I suppose it was a good measure of naivety on my part when I started my blog, but I was sure that my writing would be interesting enough to draw ever growing numbers of readers … but I did soon come to the realization that this is not the case.  Maybe this more than anything else is what caused my disillusionment … seeing the dwindling numbers in the stats for my blog, which was bolstered by the absence of comments or feedback to my articles (except for a handful of comments that have been posted).  I suppose I’m human … I need affirmation that what I’m writing is being read by someone … I need to see that someone agrees or disagrees with me.  The lack of feedback does create the impression that either the writing is not really interesting, or that the topics and content is not relevant in any way. I have been mulling over these things for almost 2 months now, and I have decided that I have 2 options: either I officially stop my blog, or I make some changes and try again.  I have chosen to make changes, and to push forward.

Let me explain the changes, then you will have an idea what to expect.  For starters, I have made some minor changes to the layout of my blog … changes that might appear to be minor, but that I think do streamline the blog a bit.  If you look at one of the pages on my blog that lists more than one post, you will notice that only the first piece of articles and longer posts is show … and there is now a “Read More >>” link which will open the full article or post.  You might also notice that I dropped some of the elements from the sidebar on the right-hand side of my blog, and have rearranged things a bit.  As I pointed out right in the beginning of my blog, I am changing things from time to time as I try to improve my blog. I also realized that my blog does look rather drab … it hasn’t got any visuals, graphics or pictures, and this might result in it not looking very interesting.  So I am going to try to add more pictures and graphics to my posts, wherever possible.

I have also decided to start posting more snippets.  It takes a lot of time and effort to write and post full-blown articles … and, while I might not always have the time to write a full article, I can always make the time to post a snippet – an interesting little piece of news or information relating to a current topic.  So expect to see more little posts on current affairs and topics, but don’t worry … I will still post articles from time to time.  I have added a new label/tag called “Articles” … if you see a post with this label/tag, you can know that this is a full article that I have written.  If a post has got the “Snippets” tag, then it means it’s a short little post.

I will continue to think of ways to improve my blog, and I hope that the changes that I have made (and will make) will make my blog more interesting and entertaining. If you have think of any things that I can changes to further improve my blog, then please post a comment … I really would like to know.  While I mention comments … please … please … please post comments on my posts.  I really would like to get feedback.  I’d like to know if you agree with my writing, or if you disagree.

I’d like to know if my posts and the topics are not interesting or entertaining or relevant.  Then I will be reminded that there is someone actually reading my blog … and that I’m not just writing for myself.  Also … if you do find my blog or a particular post interesting, please share it with your friends … the only way my blog can grow is if more people come to know about it.  There are a series of icons at the bottom of every single post, which let you quickly and easily share a post on Facebook, Gmail and Twitter, amongst others.