Back to Blogging Basics

The term "blog" was coined in the late '90s as the short form of "weblog," when a particularly clever blogger broke the latter term in the two words "we blog." Back then, the weblog or blog was typically used as an online diary of sorts. Nowadays, bloggers are writing about more diverse subjects than their innermost feelings and/or what has happened to them over the course of a day.

When I started this blog, back in December of 2003, its initial purpose was to be the vehicle to count down my top ten albums of the year. With no clear ongoing purpose, though, I then posted a grand total of 24 times over the next three years, mostly about baseball, but I also revisited the best music of the year concept at the conclusion of 2006.

Then, in 2007, as my 40th birthday approached, the blog became about a 40-part series I wrote discussing the 40 musical artists who had meant the most to me during my lifetime to that point. After that momentum died down, I slacked off for a while, but successfully resurrected the blog the following year to chronicle a pretty serious baseball road trip.

These two projects are what really defined the blog from that point forward, and I can now say I'm approaching the third anniversary of writing on a fairly regular basis in this space. That is, the blog became about my life as seen through the lenses of my major interests, primarily baseball, my mostly non-mainstream taste in music, and my enthusiasm for craft beer.

So, for some time my challenge has been to write about myself—what I'm listening to, concerts I've attended, ballparks I've visited, breweries I've toured, etc.—without making the subject matter too personal. While I don't have a problem sharing some of the more personal details, I've tried to only occasionally do so, but in a veiled way. 

Late last year, I joined a group called the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Doing so has given me the opportunity to network, and even establish a few new friendships, with some of my many fellow members.

For a while there, from seeing all the great work being done by so many other baseball bloggers, I felt motivated to try and take my baseball writing to the next level, but it hasn't been in the cards. This all happened to coincide with many major life changes that, while all very positive, haven't really allowed me to devote a lot of time to writing.

The latest change is, perhaps, the biggest one of all. Since I just got married last year, I'll let you figure out what I'm talking about.

Anyway, my point is I've resigned myself—and, honestly, I'm quite happy with the decision—to the idea that I'm returning to blogging basics. By this I mean, I'm remaining focused on what the strengths of this blog have always been, and those strengths seem to correlate pretty closely to what the original purpose of a blog was.

So, what I'm really saying is, stayed tuned for more of the same...just maybe a little less of it.