Blank Page
posted 12 Feb ’07, 12.18pm MST PST on flickr
Mmm … what shall I create today?
It’s probably not healthy that I awoke this morning, still shaking off the dream state, thinking I was writing a blog entry. Why dream about writing blog posts? Why not red sports cars, standing on mountains, that girl from the Herb Albert album cover…
So it is this time of year one one tends to look back in rose colored glory on the past 364 days, making “best of” lists (ohh, my “best” blog posts…. I could not really dredge one up, blecchh), or turning those glasses forward and fountaining predictions for the next set. “2008 will be the year of _______”.
Nah.
Well, maybe a little reflection.
A year ago, I had heard of this thing called “twitter” but had bookmarked it into oblivion. In that time (it was in January of 2007 I dove in- oldest tweet I could find was Jan 31, 2007). Now I cannot resist checking it from the time the laptop lid opens to when I finally slam it shut late in the evening hours.
It became a focal frame of reference point for how I looked at new technologies, a la “being there”
But as much as this new kid shines, nothing, will ever take away from my interest in blog realm, hence I hoisted a Viva La Blog flag. And its with some sadness, I see much less updating happening in the blogs sitting in my RSS bin. The unread light is just not as intense as it once was, and its certainly not because I am reading more blogs. I suspect it’s more than just twitter chipping away at the blog-density; we are awash in social networks, video viewing, building virtual palaces, heck maybe even work that chips away into the time we may have spent blogging.
Picking through my blog database, I mysql counted 303 blog posts tin 2007 compared to 370 in 2006. Does that mean anything?
But what I was really thinking about in the morning fog of sleep was the mixture of dilemma and potential of an empty page. This blog entry starts at as one of those. I often dont know where it will end when it starts. A blog post can be a huge canvas to cover in words or just to quickly splatter with bright read paint. I relish that unknown potential.
But stretching metaphorically (as opposed to metaphorically stretching, which I think I am better at), even a blank “what are you doing” twitter screen might be seen as a blank page, just tinier. Potential, nonetheless.
So in this electronic space, we are literally surrounded, yet never seem, many blank pages that we can choose to fill (or ignore and just poke around on facebook).
And in casting ahead, I am wondering about where I will toss my energy and attention this year. Already, I have many blank pages hovering around, and not knowing what will cover them, or if they will be covered at all… is ok.
Yet as I adore the energy and connectedness of my twitter-circle, I feel compelled to still issue calls for Viva La Blog, we certainly need much more thoughtful writing, thinking, provoking, arguing, agreeing — and there is room for so much more.
So my wish for ’08 is to see some resurgence of the blog form, not even sure what that might be, and even mostly doubtful that the shrunken golden age of blogging may already be yellowing around the edges of the blank page supply.
Blog on, tweet on, just stay connected is my plea…
