1. Explain why you started to journal/blog.
I’m not sure exactly why I started. I initially happened upon the concept of blogging sometime towards the end of 2000, and around that time I sort-of started a weblog that didn’t really go anywhere, because I didn’t really get it at the time I guess. It was some months later, after I’d started exploring the blogosphere as it was and became a regular reader of Mat’s blog, that I decided to try it again. This time, I actually had something to say, and it quickly became a habit. I love writing, but sometimes I just don’t know what to write about; the weblog is the perfect medium for people like me.
2. Do people you interact with day to day or family members know about your journal/blog? Why or why not?
Some do, some don’t. With the ones who do, most of them surf the web now and again and have some inkling of what I’m doing with this. The one’s who don’t, well, they just wouldn’t understand without seeing it for themselves, in its proper context. As far as I’m concerned, weblogs only really work as part of a greater whole; that’s not to say that only the A-listers are worthy of any concern, but isolated blogs with little or no links to the outside world are a bit pointless, really. It’s the organic nature of the blogoshpere proper, the interaction, the meta-ness that interests and excites me and makes me want to be a part of it.
3. Do you have a theme for your journal/blog?
No, I don’t. I just write what I feel. Although I am trying to shift the emphasis away from the more mundane matters of my personal life, mainly because for the last six weeks or so I’ve been spending my days reading lots, watching TV, writing in spurts, and little else.
4. What direction would you like to have your journal/blog go in over the next year?
The trend for a lot of the better weblogs I read is towards a more column-based format; indeed many bloggers describe what they do as somewhat of an online column. Parallel to this trend is the increasing standard of writing, judging from the weblogs I read regularly anyway. It really is true that the more one writes, the better writer one becomes. It’s more than true for me; I cringe when I read some of my earlier entries, which pale in comparison to my more recent attempts, and I certainly want my writing to continue to improve.
5. Pimp five of your favorite journals/blogs.
I couldn’t make such a list without mentioning Mat Honan’s blog, it being the one that got me hooked on blogging in the first place.
Instant Enemy was another excellent blog I discovered in the early days of this site; I think it was the combination of dry cool wit and toy robots that got me hooked. It’s currently on hiatus and is sorely missed.
Another is fush!, which isn’t the most prolific of blogs in terms of content, but the quality more than makes up for the quantity (or lack thereof).
Antipixel I discovered fairly recently, and was immediately drawn in by both the impressive design and the depth and quality of content.
My fifth spot is a three-way tie: Frownland, Kottke.org and plasticbag.org. Yes, I am aware that two of those three are of the blogging elite, but they’re elite for a reason: consummately professional, informative, with excellent writing, and oftentimes they do the hard work of finding new places to go on the web for us.
The weblogs I’ve mentioned here are but the tip of the iceberg, of course. Most of my other favourites are listed on my Linkage page, and I could easily spend hours hopping around the links to other blogs through them. That’s the beauty of the whole concept.