22nd
Writing is difficult
After tumbling for about two weeks now, I’ve realized that it has gotten increasingly difficult to write interesting posts. When I first started posting, I was doing so just for the sake of creating content. And, while that might sound lame, it was actually a lot of fun and I felt accomplished after each post. The novelty of posting, however, wore off quickly. At the same time, the desire to create compelling content grew exponentially. This desire has led me to challenge myself to become a better writer and increasingly create compelling content that people will want to read, comment on and reblog. Like all good things in life, this will be difficult so I welcome any comments or suggestions you might have.
One of major challenges I face is giving a direction to this tumblog. Tumblr makes it so easy to post content to my page that its difficult to focus on one particular topic. Anytime i come across something interesting on the web, I immediately want to post it on tumblr and share it with others (interestingly, google reader has tried to make sharing content with friends even easier with their new “share” feature. more on that in another post). Without any direction to my Free Agent Musings, its hard to develop and refine a style that works. Free Agent Musing might always be a random collection of thoughts - I am ok with that and like that concept. If that’s the case, however, I will likely start a blog on one topic only sometime in 2008 so I can challenge myself to consistently write about one thing that I am passionate about (leaning towards the NBA but that could change).
Before I sign off, I want to give my definition of compelling content. Compelling content is timeless. It never gets stale and remains just as interesting in a year from now as it is today. In fact, it might even be MORE interesting in a year from now. Think about your favorite blogs and videos and you realize that I’m right about this. If I could give one example of a blogger that has mastered the art of creating compelling content its Bill Simmons. Last night I found myself rereading his old NBA Trade Value Rankings posts and literally could not shut my computer until i went through the entire archives. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation - you have to read that post again or watch that video again - then you have stumbled upon interesting, accomplished and compelling content. Some might even call it genius.
PS - you can read the Simmon’s rankings here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071218