Over the past two weeks, I’ve been thinking about how great it was when this blog covered everything of interest to me. Sure, WordPress is fun to write about but when I considered the fact that I get paid to write about WordPress for WeblogToolscollection.com and I have guest blog accounts on HackWordPress.com, WPCandy.com, RAProject.com and on top of all that, I have tried to turn this blog into a WordPress only domain, I am starting to run out of steam.
I’m not running out of blogging steam, but I hate being in this blogging cycle where there is so much to write about yet, I’m not sure whether to publish the post on my own blog, one of the other blogs, or for WLTC. It’s become a constant battle within myself as to who to write for. I also hate the fact that as I monitor Twitter and the RSS feed, I constantly get this feeling of OMFG I have to write about that, I have to write about this, OMG I can’t miss any of this. At the end of the day, I end up not writing anything. The constant weight on my shoulders of trying to play catchup sucks! If you have no idea what I mean, please read this excellent post written by the NYTimes which goes into some detail as to what it’s like to be part of the blogging Elite. It’s become increasingly apparent that blogging is a game of FIRSTIES. As the NYTimes article points out:
Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone else’s post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.
But before I go on any more of a rant considering the state of blogging for big bucks, I want to get back on topic. I have decided that I am no longer going to continue to make this blog a WordPress centric site. I will continue to write about WordPress on occasion. However, I plan on getting back to my roots where I published opinions, share things I discovered, shared my personal experiences, or write up reviews or articles of things that I find interesting. The writing, discovery and the entire aspect of blogging just seemed to be better for me when that was my method of getting through the day. So then, I’m going back to what made this blog successful.
If you enjoyed what I have written on this blog concerning WordPress, I highly suggest you subscribe to my WordPress tag feed so that if I post something about WordPress in the future, you’ll be notified in your favorite RSS reader.
Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff 
w00t!!! I’ll have things to comment on again, as I’m not a WordPress kinda person.
I understand totally what you mean – blogging really does require a big commitment of time, and it can be tough when it’s a personal (meaning ‘unpaid’) blog and you know your focus has to be on other commitments where you do get paid. But the best way to keep up a blog without the feeling of weight on your shoulders is to write about what you care about – what gets your motor running – and that might be a wide variety of topics.
Look at it this way – if you were going to start over with a brand new blog, what would you write about? Would you limit yourself to a niche? What would be different from this blog? There’s no reason why you can turn this blog into that hypothetical new blog, and hope your readers will stay around for the ride long enough to see how it pans out for you.
I promise I’ll keep reading :)
Jeff,
I plan on posting the Liz Strauss transcript tonight at midnight (my time) on RA Project. I suggest giving it a nice long read (because it is a loooong read).
I like this blog simply because there is a lot of “YOU” in it. If you weren’t here, I’d leave, plain and simple.
So keep up the good work. Whether you’re writing about WordPress or how a squirrel acquires its nuts from a tree, I don’t care :) – In the words of Trisha, keep keeping it real.
Sounds like a good plan, and best of luck with it! I have to admit, unlike the others, I only found this blog through WordPress, so will look forward to reading some of your more personal comments etc. on other things since I already agree with alot of your opinions on WordPress-related issues!
p/s: I’ve just started a new site which I would like to write a little about WordPress, but the more I look at it, the more I realise that actually, 90% of my time I’d like to write about the things I find online as well, and 10% to WordPress. Still trying to find the balance.
@Jeffro – It’s looking good so far :D Thanks for the suggestion about creating a WordPress category. I’ve now started to write about other things (such as the Olympics!) in addition to random WordPress things, and I think it really helps bring the words out now. Thank you!