I don’t feel like writing this week but Google would doc me popularity points if I didn’t.
This month marks the one year anniversary of The Primal Parent. It was fired up on March 18th of 2011 to be exact. My first post was a juxtaposition of modern man and Primal man. You can read it now if you want. I don’t think anyone ever did before.
But I don’t really care if you do, because it’s just graffiti anyway – graffiti with punctuation that is.
I don’t have a TV but obviously I have a computer. Occasionally, I watch movies on it – usually documentaries – but last week I watched a pretty lame movie called Contagion. It was poorly developed in my opinion. I don’t recommend it. But there was one line that made it all worth while:
“Blogging isn’t writing. It’s graffiti with punctuation.”
That just about sums up my sentiments about blogs and blogging in general. Of course, some graffiti really strikes you and you thank the stars that the artist was kind enough to bless you with his generosity of time and talent, but for the most part graffiti really sucks.
Taggers (bloggers) spread crap all over the walls (the internet) with the purpose of getting attention. It’s quick, it’s self-serving, it’s not masterful, and it’s generic.
My blog isn’t much different.
I started The Primal Parent to offer my experience to those searching for it. There wasn’t much out there written by shamelessly honest people so I thought I’d try to fill that gap. I couldn’t see a single flaw in the idea. I’d write all these articles about stuff I know about and people would learn and commiserate. Cool idea, right? But it’s not been that simple.
Blogs have to be updated regularly, ready or not. And if you don’t update often and regularly you won’t have good search engine ranking, and without good search engine ranking you don’t have visitors, and without visitors what’s the point?
So, bloggers scramble to post more articles than are really worth posting or before they’re really ready to post them.
If only Google could somehow allow for patience in its ranking system, somehow observing quality, not quantity, the internet would be a better place indeed. But the blogging model isn’t about thoroughness or elegance or beauty. Anyone who can write a little can be a blogger, and any potentially great writer can get sucked into the search engine ranking trap and publish frequently at a mediocre level.
I am a a patient person. I don’t mind taking a long time to produce great things. But none of us can make great things if we don’t take the time.
In the last year I have published 83 posts including this one. That averages to 6.91 posts per month. In the last few months I’ve been backing off and have only posted one per week (boy has my ranking plummeted). From now on I may post even less, maybe not, but I will only post when I have the time and inkling to develop my thoughts thoroughly. Since blogging is by no means my main writing gig, this may be infrequent. We’ll see.
Thank you for reading this year. I am truly honored to have entertained and helped so many people and I intend to continue, but I’d rather be writing books, just so you know…
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March 10, 2012 at 8:42 am
I think you have more important things than “blogging” going on right now.
I only started reading your blog these past two months, but I love your style. Blunt and sometimes controversial which makes you want to read more.
Take a breather, but please don’t vanish.
March 10, 2012 at 9:50 am
Thanks Frank! Indeed, there are some pretty huge things going on in my life at the moment. And without dedication, you have a crappy blog. So, I’ll take the dedication in spurts when it comes, rather than try to feign it, but don’t worry, I won’t vanish.
March 10, 2012 at 10:56 am
The great thing about RSS feeds is that I’ll see be here whenever you have something worth posting.
I’ll always be a little sad that blogging won in the online diary wars. I suppose it makes sense, turning people’s thoughts into something more like magazine articles, but I miss people bleeding onto the page rather than spray painting. *grin*
You’re a person, and that’s why I like reading you. You make me think, but don’t resent when I disagree with you.
A good blog isn’t graffiti, I think, it’s a discussion group at a coffee shop. It’s not exactly real writing, and not exactly socializing, but a little bit of both.
I’ll miss the reduced hours at this one, but will still send links to everyone I know.
March 12, 2012 at 10:13 am
Thanks. I agree that a good blog is a discussion and discussions bubble up from bleeding hearts as you say, from passion, from controversy.
The posts that have really gotten people going have become my favorites. While the deluge of mean people can sometimes bring me down for a day or two, ultimately, the comments are entertaining, but most importantly thoughtful.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all meet at a cafe for real? Ah, I envy the French revolutionaries of the early 1900s.
March 10, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Graffiti can be art or ugly marks on the wall. Take your time and when it’s ready then put it on display, if you want. If not, know we will understand. It can not be easy living your life on display but we thank you for it as you are an inspiration
March 11, 2012 at 7:45 am
Thanks Peggy for your hard work. you’ve helped me think a different way about some things. I appreciate it.
March 11, 2012 at 8:04 am
I recently started reading your blog about 3 months ago and I find your ideas and knowledge so helpful in my everyday life. I agree you have more important stuff going on right now and we all could do with a bit of away time from our computers. Thanks for all your hard work and research you have done, you have opened my eyes to take Paleo farther.
March 12, 2012 at 8:52 am
Your graffiti gives so much, so thank you for taking the time to put it out there.
For site traffic: the beautiful thing about RSS feeds is that even when you don’t post for a little while, we don’t forget to come visit when you do.
March 12, 2012 at 10:15 am
Thank you guys! Your support and participation will keep me posting for sure!
March 12, 2012 at 4:09 pm
I started coming here after seeing your comments on the MDA site. I think what you do here is great and you’re bookmarked so no search engine is needed!
Post when you want, it’s your blog afterall
You’ll still get readers. You have a decent following on facebook too.
Best of luck on the new addtion to your family as well as with Evelyn (love that name, it’s my daughter’s middle name).
March 12, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Thanks so much! I loved the name when I moved to Evelyn Ave. in California (yeah I named my kid after a street!). I thought it was so feminine and pretty unlike my Peggy, which just rings silly to me.
March 13, 2012 at 10:37 am
Congrats on your one year anniversary!
I don’t get much traffic to my blog and I don’t really care. I started it because I love to write journals (I keep 3 paper journals and 2 blogs–one of which is private and nobody every sees). I don’t care to monetize it or anything and I write whenever I feel moved. It would be just another stress if I felt I had to update it regularly because I have enough on my plate to do.
But you know what? I like what you write. I like how you write. Even if you don’t post for months, if I see a post of yours pop up in my reader, I’ll excitedly read it. I agree with Mike B–graffiti can be art or ugly marks on the wall. Growing up in the S. Bronx, it was the difference between the work done by Tat’s Cru and just other random scribblings. Art takes time and so I for one, won’t begrudge you the time it takes to produce it!
March 13, 2012 at 11:03 am
You are so kind Chi Chi! I have always kept journals. I’ve never been able to stop the pen from moving. But going public with it served a couple of purposes, one was to help people and the other was to try and get noticed to advance my writing career. So, that kind of puts me in the hands of the search engine. I want to write just for the sake of writing. That’s what writing books and journals is to me. Writing the blog has kind of been like a job. It’s been a damn cool, unpaid internship kind of job, but not really the kind of writing I’d like to be doing. For a while I may take the approach of bleeding on the page as JMH put it.
March 16, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Happy Blogiversary Peggy! I enjoy everything you write, and I am looking forward to your book when it arrives. And if you take some time between posts, that’s fine too. Just like when JS over at gnolls.org took a little breather, the readership will still be there when you have something to say. Your blog is not a little clubby social-life blog, where if you miss a few days we lose the thread; everything you post is pertinent, and readable, and can stand alone. So take your time, and live your life, and I’ll be glad to read whenever you do get to post. I hope spring is coming as beautifully to you as it is here in CT!