It has been nine months since I posted. For a variety of reasons I stopped, despite enjoying having a platform that was truly my own. I was linking largely to my National Review pieces, as well as some from other sites, but I don't think I had thought about what I really wanted from a blog.
I like to think that I'm of perhaps the last generation that did not feel the need to express every thought, or random synaptic firing, in a public venue; that writing should be thoughtful and careful, and most of all, should have something to say. The extraordinary opportunities the internet brings for publication have been as liberating as they have been corrosive of reasoned thought, measured expression, and useful discourse. A blog is often too easy a spot to rush out hasty opinions and drop the filter between one's private life and one's public persona. I know too many people, some of them friends, who already do that, and do it successfully enough to make a career out of it.
I never meant for this blog to host original articles, especially those connected to my professional career. Those I am happy to publish elsewhere. But, I did think it could serve as a vehicle for me to archive my own work and create a record of those things digital that I found interesting or useful or merely diversionary.
Now, I think I may be ready to accept this blog as a type of digital notebook. If I can record some of my own thoughts as they develop, draft out ideas for future articles, reflect on what I've done, then it seems to me a useful exercise.
For now, in the spirit of archiving, I will spend some time linking to the pieces of mine that I like which have come out in since last May. After that, we'll see.
I like to think that I'm of perhaps the last generation that did not feel the need to express every thought, or random synaptic firing, in a public venue; that writing should be thoughtful and careful, and most of all, should have something to say. The extraordinary opportunities the internet brings for publication have been as liberating as they have been corrosive of reasoned thought, measured expression, and useful discourse. A blog is often too easy a spot to rush out hasty opinions and drop the filter between one's private life and one's public persona. I know too many people, some of them friends, who already do that, and do it successfully enough to make a career out of it.
I never meant for this blog to host original articles, especially those connected to my professional career. Those I am happy to publish elsewhere. But, I did think it could serve as a vehicle for me to archive my own work and create a record of those things digital that I found interesting or useful or merely diversionary.
Now, I think I may be ready to accept this blog as a type of digital notebook. If I can record some of my own thoughts as they develop, draft out ideas for future articles, reflect on what I've done, then it seems to me a useful exercise.
For now, in the spirit of archiving, I will spend some time linking to the pieces of mine that I like which have come out in since last May. After that, we'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment