Fall Smörgåsblog
Today I'm in North Carolina. I'm here with Joel. We're visiting my grandparents today (just outside of Ft. Bragg/Fayetteville), attending a Nintendo event tomorrow (in Raleigh). Then on to my alma mater (UNC Chapel Hill) after that.
I've been ambivalent about blogging recently. I've been writing daily at 750, but it's a different kind of writing. It's writing for the book, and it's writing for me, but it's not blogging. So, here's a smörgåsblog. A bit here, a bit there. A little peek into where I'm at right now.
On the 101
Business first. Wrapping up The 101 (September). It was a tremendous month. People have shared some heartfelt words about their experience. Now working on taking it to the next level with two women who delight and challenge me. As we work on the second iteration of The 101, I'll keep you updated. I am not taking on any new clients in October as we prepare a launch for November.
On Travel
In the past few weeks I've been in Minneapolis, Redwood City, San Francisco and Wyoming.
Today, Carolina. Visit with the grandparents, then Raleigh and Chapel Hill. A very slow latte out of a bowl at Driade. (Happily making an exception to the no coffee rule.)
The week after, San Jose to speak. Then after that, Seattle. It's go time in so many ways. This makes it even more vital to sit in, to practice. With the help of Health Month, I'm doing that and following a few extra health rules, to boot.
(Ay! I still have to tell you about Redwood City/San Francisco and Nintendo.)
On Blogging
This year blogging has changed so much for me. My desires for the blog have changed/are changing. You may have noticed I'm not blogging daily. That was a goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year. And although I still update The Mindfulist on a daily basis, I'm blogging here less. You can still get access to my innermost thoughts if you wish, by subscribing to the blog. Anytime I read something and share the link, you'll get the update in your inbox. It's not daily access to my aggregation/opinion, but it's something.
Here's the thing. I'm writing more than I ever have. I'm blogging less. And when I do blog, I'm no longer seeking validation through comments. They commented! I exist! Like other bloggers have done, I'm finally considering turning off comments for simplicity's sake. (But does that undermine the blogosphere? Another conversation.)
And thought I'm no longer wanting to process my stuff publicly (because really, it's my stuff), it's through processing (writing) that I gain clarity. Used to be, in the LiveJournal days when only my grandmother read my blog (and even then, only because I was on another continent) I could say anything. I avoided cuss words mainly because I didn't want to offend her. I could process publicly.
But now, I'm writing for a whole new purpose. I'm working on a book.
Truthfully, I'm working on two books. I'm writing at least 750 words a day, sometimes up to a thousand. And I'm on a 48 day streak. I can't quit now. I have to make it to phoenix level.
And here's where I'm at with creating content for the social web.
On the Social Web
Just because it's true right now doesn't mean it will be as alive in me tomorrow. And the web occupies this space between moving wildly and rapidly - and timelessness. Each day the pace picks up, we have to work even harder to slow ourselves down. Making the necessity of unplugging increasingly more obvious.
I'm still thinking on The Social Network. What it will mean for a new generation of content creators. As I was saying to Satya in our interview, we're all content creators now. Whether we're grandmothers updating our status on Facebook, or teenagers vlogging for our friends, we're all creating content now. Opting out isn't an option anymore. (Ok, it is an option. But it means you'll miss a lot of life in the process.)
What does this all mean? It means we have to be self-aware in our creating. I find it challenging to be self-aware and reckless. So I've taken to 750 for recklessness, and the blog goes another day, untouched.
On Creation
If what we're creating is for an audience, we're creating for a reaction. We're creating for validation of some kind. Maybe with the secret hope it'll "go viral." Perhaps with fingers crossed building a portfolio on the web will lead to a job prospect once we graduate.
Whatever it is, we're all motivated. And I am curious about our motivations. I'm curious about my motivations. I'm more curious after having watched the movie because the character playing Mark Zuckerberg is consumed with the process of creation. For the love of creation. Not for a financial outcome. Not for personal gains. But just for the love of creating something worthwhile where people do worthwhile (or not so worthwhile) things.
On The Craft
In a way, he's portrayed as the ultimate Altruistic Programmer. "I do it for the love of code." The more I talk with Joel, the more I see it as a viable path. The only path? To create simply because we have these tools with which to create. We have these brains capable of thinking up things to create. We have communities whose content we love to consume - and who will consume what we create.
Is it enough to simply create, without thought of reward? Without hope for validation? Without thought of "will this go viral?" Without thought of "how will I monetize it?" I believe it is.
I long for a return to the craft of writing, to creation. So, I turn to 750. To quiet conversations over cups of tea. To in-flight daydreams.
And really, to a state beyond technology, 30 millisecond increments and whizbang. To a place of not-knowing. Where seconds fold into one another. Where productivity can fall to the wayside.
Where resting the mind on the breath is all there is to do.
*
Bits to Nibble On
10.14.10 Preview a new interview with Jen Louden (audio/blog)
A 3 part interview on entrepreneurship with Courtney at Think & Grow Chick (blog):
9.27.10 Part 1: On Yoga, Perseverance & the Business of You
9.29.10 Part 2: On Passion, Cultivation & Sacrifice
10.5.10 Part 3: On Nuts & Bolts Entrepreneurship
9.29.10 Michelle Marlahan, One oh One
10.8.10 The Mindfulist, Leave No Trace
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Reader Comments (4)
I realize this probably seems a bit silly after you mentioned the whole issue of comments as validation, but I'm compelled to express how delicious that french toast looks. Aside from that, you've provoked me to sit back and think about why I feel guilty about letting my blogging go to the wayside lately. Should I really feel guilty for not publicly putting myself out there day after day? Perhaps it's not as awful as I once thought.
I'm de-lurking to say that I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Your online sabbatical this summer came just at a time when I was feeling complete internet burnout, and I found that validating. I'm still wrestling a bit with how much I want to participate and how much energy I want to put into the life that's right in front of me rather than the life that's through a computer screen. That being said, those worlds have now collided and like you said, it's hard to disconnect completely.
Honestly, the less someone posts these days, the more likely I am to read. When I look at google reader and someone there are 29 unread posts, it is much easier to hit Mark All As Read.
Thank you for this post. There were a lot of little lightbulb moments in it for me.
I come to your blog so frequently when I feel like I need to be "grounded" on the web. This post was one of my favorites of yours I've ever read. After seeing the Social Network, of course I too have been thinking about how fantastic it is to not be motivated by money... and to create things. I am so curious to see where things will go with the internet world. Thanks for the work you do Gwen! It inspires so often.
i am not commenting to validate you - i would never - i am commenting because i have been thinking about you a lot lately. interesting that i finally saunter over to you place today to find this post because even though i have much less tenure on the blogosphere than you do, i am already bored? burned out? i keep going, though, because of my children. i think you once said something about children who get to know their mothers through blogs, and it is through my blog that i hope to show other facets of my self to my children.
after years of building family libraries by transforming shaping stories, papers, and photos into narratives encased in leather-bound books, i am finally researching one of my own family legends, and i sense that you are creating a personal history of your own . . . to which i say: bravo. and if there's any way i can help, let me know.
as the research continues on my project, i find that writing on my blog keeps my fingers in gear, but being in the public spotlight wearies me, exhausts me. and as for creating for the sake of creation, i had a conversation with that very topic with a woman today - someone who lives a country away, someone i met during your blog challenge last december. have i thanked you for that lately?