February 22nd, 2009
So it’s already been a month at The Sword and the Olive Branch. What have I learned 1/12th of the way through my rookie season?
1) Microsoft Word does funny things to html. I didn’t want to believe it at first, because I like Word. I know where all the options are; it looks nice, and I love the Calibri font. That doesn’t stop Word, upon being transferred to my blog, from making some
paragraphs look like this.Or closing the gaps in between some sentences. Or inserting strange line breaks (I can’t even recreate this one at the moment). Word doesn’t even convert well to open office. So reluctantly, I’m saving my drafts online, which is a little discomforting. I’m a creature of habit, and I feel more secure when my drafts are safely and securely stored exclusively on my PC.
2) The way I’m blogging right now, I give myself no time for contemplation. This is the most serious threat to “Afghan Whig,” as it’s affected my judgment and made my new hobby feel like a second job. Without time to read books, absorb the news, and polish my writing, the quality of my work will deteriorate (in some ways it already has). My first month of blogging followed the same economic logic as social security: I was spending way more knowledge than I was taking in.
This is causing me real stress. If it ever gets to the point where I’m blogging more than I’m learning, I’ll cut my losses and dedicate my website to music I like (p.s. Does anyone within earshot know where I can find videos from Slayer’s “Diabolus in Musica”)?
As a result, The Sword and the Olive Branch is going to take a more personal tone. Contrary to what I learned in school, my best writing comes when I’m not crafting my message towards a certain audience. When I worry how my readers are going to react, I find myself pulling my punches and trying to be too clever. It kills my personal voice, which is really all I have to offer. Bloggers come a dime a dozen, but there’s only one of me. That’s going to show in the upcoming months.
Expect to see more short posts, more interesting links and images, and more unpolished immediate reactions. When it comes to my editorials and essays, I’m going to start deffering to quality over quantity. Also, I can go for weeks and not find anything in the news that interests me. So I’m going to post on more topics which may not be timely (as in leading the headlines) but are relevant anyway. For example, I have something on illegal immigration coming very soon (possibly tonight).
In addition, I have no time to work on the nuts and bolts of html and the technical points of online publishing (I use this term in the loosest sense). For the most part, I’m winging the actual blogging process; I’m still an internet newbie. For example, I’ve examined every line of my style sheet, looking for the section that makes my links default to green. I can’t find it. I think the code was split in four pieces and scattered to the four corners of the internet. It’s gotten to the point that someday I’m going to print out my style sheet, shred the fucking thing, and burn the shredded pile out of frustration. Sooner or later I need to actually read the HTML books I bought in December.
3) I’m not a social butterfly. I already knew that, but blogging in a vast community of people I’ll never meet has reminded me just to what extent. I almost skipped buying tickets to CPAC for the first time this year because the thought of being stuck in conference rooms full of opinionated strangers sounds slightly less fun than shaving with a cheese grater. But Mitt Romney’s speaking, and my girlfriend has always wanted to see D.C., so I’ll be there (All American Mike will take over the site if terrorists take control of one of my cross-country flights).
I despise networking; twittering’s a chore (although I did have fun live-tweeting the Oscars); I don’t generally like leaving random comments on anonymous blogs, and I hate promoting myself. I’d rather my work speak for itself. Since that’s not going to get me any traffic when I’m competing with thousands of like-minded peers, I’m going to save up to hire an agent to do all the cyberspace glad-handing. For my free blog. With no advertising. Perhaps I need to think this one through.
4) For a conservative, I’m terrible at adhering to convention. I’m still learning blogging etiquette, and I think I’ve inadvertently alienated some people with my approach to blogging. I’m still not sure what “Hat-tip” means, but it looks pretty ridiculous when I see “Hat tip: Hot Air via Conservative Grapevine via cracked.com.” What if I find, via Yahoo!, a silly video everyone has linked to? Will people believe I didn’t get it from the thousands of bloggers who got there first? When I get time, I’m going to hunt for the internet version of the Chicago Manual of Style.
5) Finally, I know The Sword and the Olive Branch needs some work, especially concerning continuity and appearance. Expect a re-vamp later this year after I figure out exactly what I want in a custom-built wordpress theme.
Later!