So what..?

So anyways...

A startling fact: This is not my first blog.

Over the years I've started a couple of blogs and each time with a sparkly enthusiastic idea that slowly fades away. I am a serial blogger and a trail of discarded and unloved blogs lies in my wake, which raises the question; why do I abandon my blogs?

Top Five Reasons for Abandoning a Blog

1. No-one else reads them. Ever.

I'm publishing this on the mighty and celebrated internet, which is rightly lauded as The Place where minds and cultures meet. I want it to be read. I want a loyal band of commentators to compliment my obvious wit and superior blogging prowess but it will never happen. The nature of the Net is that its so huge that its become an inpersonal chasm. Writing a blog is like screaming into the void.

2. Isn't it all a bit pompous?

This pretty much follows on from point 1. Obviously I'm writing a blog because I believe that O have Important Things that Must be Said. In reality its unlikely that I will say anything remotely profound here (or ever). Perhaps I'm just a victim of fame culture; fooled into thinking I'm something special whereas I'm actually very ordinary.

3. Too much like hard work

What's the purpose of a blog? To entertain! What you're reading now is essentially free entertainment. There are people who are paid to provide this sort of stuff. There are people for whom this is a job and once the inital novelty of writing wears off this will probably feel like one too.

4. What to say?

A good blog relies upon a stream of fresh ideas and where do those come from? I remember reading an article by Douglas Adams in which he revealed that he hated when his fans asked him that question, because when you stop and analyse it the ideas really do ocome out of thin air. And what if they stop coming? What then? Will the readers (if there were any) depart? There is a certain pressure to write and that drives me away.

5. Real Life

Ever hear the phrase 'real life got in the way'? Writing is a solitary and often lonely pursuit. For some reason I find that feeling of melancholy lonliness is greatly magnified by sitting here tapping away at a keyboard, pointlessly writing something that no-one will ever read. There's something about the slightly too bright light from my computer screen and the rushing wheeze of my computer's fan that reminds me that the human condition is one of inescapable aloneness.