All Over the Map

A dear friend recently visited and commented on the structure of my blog. He has many years of experience in the blogosphere, so he knows what he’s talking about.

He notes that my site is a bit awkward to navigate because of the way I have set it up, almost like multiple blogs… Writing posts here, Music there, Travel somewhere else… all over the map. And he’s quite right.

I must confess that, until I started my own blog, I had not really given much thought to other people’s blogs. I truly had no idea what proper blogging etiquette was. You see, as a full-time teacher I rarely had much spare time to check out other people’s blogs, nor was I inclined to use the computer for leisure at the end of a long day. But these days, now that I have the time to look around, I see that many blogs take place on the Home page with, perhaps, a single About page describing the author. That way everyone gets to read and chat on the same page, and those with feeds get to see the whole posting. Interesting.

The plan for this blog was slightly different, and probably reflects my naïveté. I was motivated to start a blog, or personal website, by the loss of a friend who died much too young without leaving much behind in the way of a public record of his life for family and friends to read. It struck me as profoundly sad that all his memories, thoughts, and experiences were now limited to a handful of photos hidden away in a box, or on some misplaced memory stick. I vowed then and there that I would never depart this world without leaving at least some kind of digital footprint behind. Yet, I see how my personal objective is not in keeping with the whole blogging/online-community thing.

It just never occurred to me that this blog would ever be fodder for discussion. Maybe others feel differently. But I can’t see strangers wanting to discuss my background, or my travels. Maybe I’m wrong.

I’ll tell you what. If I ever start getting lots of comments about some topic posted on my blog, like the craft of writing, or my book, then I will start another blog dedicated to that topic alone. Then we can chat and critique about it amongst ourselves until the cows come home. Ok?

And thank you, Ashok, for your feedback. All your points are well taken.

Please visit Ashok’s inspirational blog Spiritual Thoughts for a Green World or check out his novels Mystic and the Blossoms and Nude besides the Lake