Probably Not a Blogger...

A few weeks ago, I discovered Google Reader and a whole new way to waste my time was born. Fantastic stuff. Have a minute and don't feel like working? Check Google Reader! Want to harass your friend? Send them things from Google Reader!

For now, I'm following a few blogs that I find either entertaining (like Futility Closet), visually inspiring (like Notebookism), or otherwise interesting (like my first blog, the blue blog). Blogging is a fascinating medium. It's like writing a column in the newspaper, except there's not newspaper and no newspaper editor. The qualities that make a blog enjoyable are not unlike the qualities that make a newspaper column enjoyable. They have an interesting set of topics or a seemingly mundane topic with an interesting approach. They also publish regularly and prolifically.

Now, I've never done much thinking about columnists or bloggers before in terms of what it takes to do it well. But really, these are people who simply sit down every day and produce a lot of work, I mean words, no work. Popular bloggers (is that the same as good bloggers?) are those who post regularly as well. By posting regularly, they give readers something to look forward to. Also, if you are putting a lot out there, you're probably improving with practice. So, working harder means getting better at what you do. I think I heard the same thing about piano lessons way back when.

Finally, prolific posting must also have a dilution effect. Meaning this: if you post a lot, your bad posts are outnumbered by your good posts. Not only that, you're more likely to manage a great post. But this is not rocket science. Practice makes perfect - or at least makes improvement more likely. Posting, writing, running, whatever you want to do better you have to do often.

This was meant to end up with a conclusion about why I'm probably not a blogger. Instead I'm thinking that perhaps the way to become a blogger is just to do it. Of course, then it would help if one wanted to be a blogger to.

I think I'll see if anything has turned up on my Google Reader...