Why I Don't Blog Often-Michael Nichols

Several conditions must be met in order for me to blog.

1.) I have to feel a little moody.

As with any sort of expression, whether it be poetry, songwriting, or painting, blogging often is meant to share what is within, even if only for the purpose of release. I suspect hundreds of thousands of blogs exist, and each writer has a different intent. Many share opinions on current news, whether politics or athletics. Others blog as a sort of public journal. As I am not a strongly opinionated person on nearly any matter (even if sometimes I assume the guise of it), my blogging falls into the latter category. I do not keep a frequent journal, and even during the times I do, it is because I need to work through something. Similarly, when I blog, it is to sort through myself, to dig in and express the conglomerate of desires and fears within myself. In order to do this, I need to be somewhere between contented and despairing. That place is moody.

2.) I need to have a shareable topic.

Following the idea of a public journal, most of the matters I sort through are intensely personal and private. My deepest considerations involve those immediately around me. Because of this, I often cannot display in the public domain what I wrestle with for fear of causing some unwanted effect in my friends.

Further, even should my considerations not involve others, I myself am, on the whole, a closed person. I share little, and even when I do share I hold back much, whether I am speaking to a stranger or a close friend. It is not in my nature to talk much about my own thoughts, and it is often a concerted effort when I do so. This is not to say I do not have good friends, nor to speak of my distrust of them. Rather, it is a distrust of myself and my ability to express myself that holds me back. I will refrain here from a deeper psycho-analysis or listing of seemingly exceptional circumstances. Suffice it to say, often I am like Frodo and the others when they reach Bree: my business is my own. It is such not to be effrontery, but because I cannot foresee the consequences of sharing my whole mind, nor would I know how to explain the whole thing if I did. Often, I share just enough to get in the door, so that I may move on to other matters, and perhaps within find someone whom I can trust to aid me. Often, though, I find that person missing, even if he had promised to meet me there.

All that being the case, not many topics move me to deep consideration that I feel would be appropriate to share on a blog.

3.) I require some passion about the subject.

This requirement is perhaps simply an inference of the previous ones, but I wish to add here what does not quite match with those. Many topics peek my interest, and I have right now several partially written posts on various topics. Inevitably, though, I become bogged down in the writing process searching for words and phrases, and leave it lying half composed.

I do not suppose any of these requirements are exceptional, nor do I suppose myself to be such. I share these things firstly for clarity, so that it is no mystery why I often promise a post and fail to bring it about. I have another reason, also.

While I sit in the inn, pondering what I should do now that my friend is late in arriving, it may be that some help unlooked-for is nearby, and having a keen eye should require only a brief revelation to know me and my need.

(The analogy is tedious, and most likely misconstrues my own thoughts, but aren't blog posts supposed to end enigmatically? Nevertheless, I think my application of the full analogy provides enough benefits to merit inclusion, even if with this footnote.)