On keeping blogging

Where in the world have I been?

Two simple answers:

Too busy to really write
I've had it in my mind since grad school that for me to write well takes a very clear mind, which usually implies that I have enough free time to decompress from whatever it is I'm doing, deeply think through the things I've been wanting to say, and actually compose/edit it in a way that doesn't suck to read.

The result of me not doing this is just kind of vomiting onto digital ink whatever's running through my mind, like a year-plus's worth of music, movies and games without any real flow (and leaving out a lot of things that had been really good).

When I do have time to think more deeply, it results in the stuff I'm more proud of like Based on a truthy story or my review of the Legend of Zelda symphony.

Rather than keep verbally vomiting, I've saved drafts with notes of inspiration, hoping to come back to them later. 

Waiting for the (blog) world to change
The shutdown of Posterous really pissed me off. I had finally been burned by that Y Combinator-following, venture capital-fueled bubble in which good ideas are shown to the world (in MVP form) and then inevitably shut down as the engineers (not the ideas) are acquired by Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Google or maybe Microsoft. I'm not quick to endorse a product or service to non-technical friends and family, but much of my family was pretty well set using Posterous and so was I. New project? Spin up a Posterous blog for it. My brother wants a Web presence for his music composition work? Posterous. I need to share a ton of photos or YouTube embeds in my blogging? Posterous nails it again.

I even met Garry in real life once. He was cool.

Realizing the unhappiness of users who were properly pissed at Posterous' closing, Garry and Co. launched a clone service, Posthaven, and said "OK guys, we're not selling out this time. We promise. That'll be $5 a month, please. Oh, and it's still in beta."

That works for Silicon Valley. Not so much for writers who want posting by email and attachments and YouTube embeds just handled, and can't have those features back yet because it's still in beta, but can pay $5 a month.

So the rational actor in me is torn: do I stick with Garry and Co and give them $5 a month for a blog service that will certainly become good? Or do I give $8 a month to Squarespace because they're a website business and support all devices pretty amazingly well and connect to pretty much every web service I could ever want?

I still can't really decide on which to use. I have lots of pictures and thoughts to share with you, though. I promise.

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