Shh! The Blog is Sleeping
You’ve probably seen them — small, well-tended blogs with a bit of sweat and blood put into them, hosting bits of interesting content that the author was passionate enough about to share with the rest of the world. Maybe they even got into a bit of a rhythm for awhile and began to amass a small amount of loyal visitors engaged in a bit of light discussion sprinkled across various posts.
Over the years I’ve found a lot of enjoyment in collecting various items of interest, be it art, music or ideas, and sharing them here. Unfortunately I abruptly put a stop to that activity and that’s the kind of thing I just hate to see – a personal project abandoned and neglected without warning or explanation. Like an old house that was once a warm, loving home to a close family, now abandoned, falling apart from decades of neglect.
This is certainly not by choice or preference — nearly a year ago I managed to injure my neck/head/upper back which I’m told was a direct result of the many hours I spend at a computer. My doctor told me what it was, and while I’m not 100% certain of the exact words he used, I think he may have said it was Occipital Neuralgia. As a result I’ve had to keep my computing time to a minimum, which can be very disappointing and frustrating for someone who’s interests and hobbies all involve a computer. There isn’t much that’s more depressing for me than a complete lack of creative output.
So that is largely why the blog activity has ceased. I don’t like it, but at this point I don’t have much of a choice. My only real option is to keep trying to take care of my neck business until I get to a point where I can get back into spending more time at my computer. On my list of things to do: get a new computer chair that isn’t terrible (why did I not invest in a good chair years ago?), get more physical activity, and find creative outputs that don’t involve a glowing a rectangle.
I did actually visit my doctor again the other day and received what’s called an occipital nerve block. Basically I had some steroids injected deep into my neck, which was an interesting experience (and nowhere near as painful as I expected). It’s been a few days and I can tell a difference, so I’m hoping it keeps working out for me.
In the meantime I’m still pretty active on the Twitter. I really want to revisit the blog at some point and keep posting interesting stuff, but for now it will have to wait. I will let it continue to sleep for a bit.
Jeff Finley February 21st, 2011 at 10:06 am
Hey Eric, I feel your pain. I suffer from both a neglected blog and recently got physical therapy for neck/upper back pain. Both suck! I’m looking for a ways to make running a small personal blog easier to maintain. It’s nice to have a few loyal readers, but so often it feels there are more important things to be done than write that opinion about some record, movie, or form of inspiration. There is certainly Twitter, but it doesn’t have the archival ability or longevity that can really benefit anyone. If you have any ideas, I’m all ears!
eric February 22nd, 2011 at 9:24 pm
If I had any ideas I’d be using them here, that’s for sure. I can only assume that somewhere there is a balance to be found between valuable content and the amount of time required to prepare it. This post itself was pretty doable considering all it required was sitting on the couch with a laptop (which I’m glad I went with instead of a desktop now more than ever) and writing for a bit. Other posts, like preparing some scans from a book I picked up recently, requires more time and is the kind of stuff I just never end up getting around to. I think I am going to be trying to master the art of getting real design work done on a laptop from the couch.
Jeff Finley February 24th, 2011 at 11:49 am
Yeah I also wonder what it would be like to try to get real design work done on a laptop. I’m so accustomed to the desktop, it would be tough.
Strictly Kev April 17th, 2011 at 4:08 am
Sorry to hear that Eric, glad that you’re getting some treatment for it and that the blog might be back some day. It’s amazing how time-zapping preparing blogs is but the ability to revisit them again is what keeps me doing mine, Twitter and Facebook are just to ephemeral. Life and work should take priority though, get well soon.