It’s another celebratory 10k worth of hits! I’m pretty happy that I am able to share my work with so many of you. At some point at the beginning of the year, some of you may have noticed a sudden change in the way I blogged, if I even blogged at all.
I was having trouble finding any reason to post anything. Photoshopping figures felt kind of meaningless as I realized I wasn’t doing it for the joys of creating photoshop images, but was doing it for the sake of getting attention. This was wrong. This was not what I wanted. I wanted to share, and I wanted to share it with as many people as I could.
Somewhere along the way, that line blurred, and I began linking the number of hits to the results of my work. When I noticed that the hits kept coming even after I stopped posting for a while, the hits became meaningless, and so did my work. As well, I noticed a drop in the number of comments I got to some of my posts. This only added to my depression and made me question whether or not it was all worth it. Like Shino, I was very tempted to give up on blogging entirely.
I had forgotten that I posted my reviews and my photoshop work to share with everyone. I was still teetering on the brink as I was posting sometimes, but it really did feel like posting for the sake of posting. It wasn’t until I read Shino’s new blog entry that I felt something important had left me, and that I needed to get it back. In a way, Shino was the one that brought me back, and for that I’m truly grateful for.
A few commenters on Shino’s blog seemed to echo the same sentiments, but were able to find their way. As such, I’m back now. My reason to share has come back, and that reason is the pride I have in my own work, and the passion I have for my work. The passion I have for this hobby is what I want to share. In my own way, and by my own standards. The hits really don’t matter. Just as long as I’m able to do what I like doing, and be able to share my joy of doing it with you all.
– Radiant
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Ah that’s why I haven’t seen you post much. I find doing a variety of things on my blog keeps me refreshed on doing the blog thing, but I haven’t really done this very long. Although I’ve been kinda focused on the comic things for a while ^^;
It’s not really about the content itself. I don’t have a problem with doing figure photos, or anime art for the blog per-se. It’s more of my reasons for doing so weren’t what I started out with. I can’t say if I’ll be posting more, or less. It’s more like I’ll be posting “when I feel like it”. It’s a little like status quo, but the quality of my posts will be better.
Yeah, that’s the idea. Post when you feel like it. I guess I’m somewhat feeling that “obligation” part of trying to post something on my blog that keeps me quite busy. I may just put your phrase to practice soon… but then again I have nothing but time in my hand when I don’t have this upcoming trip this week ^^;
Well, you’re always on the blogroll, so I’ll be watching when you post one 🙂
Losing out the reason to blog can be annoying, when one feels like s/he lost the sight of going forward anymore.
In the beginning I restarted blogging again for attention and perhaps even for a bit of fame and revenue from ads, but I dropped pretty much most of that by now – I don’t care about the hits anymore and just want to blog what I find interesting and what I have in common with other bloggers but in different angle/perspective. Blogging just for the sake of it or like a task can be demotivating, as bloggers such a gordon have told me.
I do look forward to see you making a comeback, as I know you do nice photoshoots and photoshopped pics. I suppose what concerns you the most is the lack of space like most of us are suffering on, but as long as you like what you’re doing, I’m sure you’ll do it fine.
Thanks for the words of encouragement guys. I’m still in the habit of “posting on Wednesdays”, which I guess is fine. I’ve seen some bloggers post things like three or four times a day, like they have nothing else to do. It makes me wonder where they get all that time, and what they are leaving out of their lives in order to do it. That’s passion right there.
Q, you’ve got the right attitude. I think many bloggers lose sight of that importance. In fact, many bloggers start blogging with the intent to get attention. It’s a very primal thing, I guess. We’re all just tiny insignificant grains of sand in a sea of sand, so it’s no wonder that we want to bring ourselves out of the mix.
Space isn’t much of a concern for me. I’ve got webspace, I’ve got flickr, and I’ve got space here too. I doubt that I will ever run out of space. This blog would probably be retired before I run out of space, really. 🙂
I’m another “blogged for attention” type. I originally started my blog to showcase the visual novels I planned on making. Wanted to make myself be a standout in the growing English-developed VN scene. But I’m so amazingly lazy that I haven’t produced a single product in over three years.
Though I did almost finish one but scrapped it since I didn’t like the script. I’ve got another one in development limbo at the moment.
EBW eventually morphed into a figure review blog since I wanted the blog to have some form of content. Since it wasn’t going to get that content from games, I did the next best thing: started reviewing stuff in my figure collection. Right now I still do the reviews mainly for fun. I just really love reviewing things.
@GK Sil Kamina: Wow! It sounds really involving and time consuming. It’s good that you align your blog to your passions. That’s truly what it’s all about. I couldn’t see myself keep doing what I was doing for the sake of the blog’s subject and content. While I have separated my regular works from my anime works, I think it was a step in the right direction. Now, with two blogs, my ideas can flow more freely, and be shared more openly.
Hey, just as long as you’re back to have fun, I’m glad you’re back. I’ve seen a few familiar people sort of fall out because the blog became a chore or they were competing for attention. The need for attention ebbs and flows. It’s a lot more fun when you do it when you want to rather than feel any pressure to deliver anything. I do get a little caught up in numbers, average number of page views and stuff, mainly because it interests me to see the effect of changing the color scheme or moving the sidebar has on these things rather than simply increasing numbers.
Lost track of you for a while since you stopped updating. Anyway, I’ll see you around.
Hey Super Rats! It’s been a long time, for sure. Glad to see you chose this post to lay your greetings. I appreciate you coming to check me out again.
The need for attention is definitely in all of us. It’s human nature. It’s why social networking applications are so popular. It’s why blogs got popular in the first place. Changing my point of view from “getting attention” to “sharing” has not 0nly increased my interest in this hobby and blogging, but also increased my hit count.
It really does make a difference when you put more passion into what you want to share.
When I started blogging again, I pretty much did it for fun. I’d fallen a bit out of the anime scene and it was one of the quickest ways I could think of to relight that spirit and passion I had so many years ago.
Sure, I’m glad people go and read what I’ve wrote and comment on items, but it hasn’t been the primary reason. I look at hits as more of validation for the topics being interesting and relevant.