What I’m doing with this blog (Part Two)

Last updated on: October 11, 2017 at 11:23 pm by Dan Peterson

What I’m doing with this blog (Part Two) 2017-10-11T23:23:55-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

An image from Wikimedia Commons

As I got into the habit of blogging on a regular — nay, frequent — basis, I began to notice a major problem: It was gobbling up a lot of my time. It was interfering with my writing for publication, which is something that I care passionately about. (At this stage in my life, if somebody were to set up a fund to allow me to survive without teaching, I would seriously consider becoming a full-time writer. Anybody out there? I have lots and lots and lots of projects in mind, but little disposable time in which to do them. And I hear the clock ticking.)

So I began to consider giving blogging altogether up or, at a minimum, cutting way back on it. (It’s not lucrative enough for the money to be a serious inducement.) However, for various reasons, I didn’t.

And then, two or three months ago, I received a request from my “line authority” at Patheos. As I well knew, Patheos depends upon advertising revenue in order to support itself. But Google — I believe it was Google — had informed Patheos management that it would not advertise on blog entries below 300-400 words.

This had implications for me. I had developed a practice of posting frequently but, often, very briefly. Would I, the Patheos official asked, be willing to write longer posts? I replied that I would certainly be willing, but that they would need to be not only longer but less frequent. I simply couldn’t spend any more time on blogging than I already was. Quite the opposite, in fact.

So, I asked myself, how was I to do this?

Another idea had been rolling around in my mind: How could I make the blog an ally of my for-publication writing projects, rather than their time-consuming rival? Could I combine the two?

And that’s what I’ve decided to try.

Accordingly, in many cases (though not in all), I’ve chosen to blog things that I’m working on. In effect, to make the blog something of a public workshop.

Thus, with regard to one of the Islam-oriented books that I’m currently trying to move toward publication, I’ve been posting snippets from it. Typically about 800-1100 words long, they allow me to go through them, making modifications, and then, after I’ve reworked them to my satisfaction, to copy and paste the now-blogged-and-revised passage back into the main book file. Thus, I’m progressing through the projected book at the rate of, on average, about a thousand words per day.

My science-related and Mormonism-related files aren’t nearly as far along as that one. And they’ve been lying fallow for quite a while — in some cases, for years. They consist of notes to myself, copied quotations, brief preliminary passages or even summaries inspired by things that I’ve read, and so forth. They’re very rough. They’re ordered in only the roughest way. They scarcely resemble what I envision the final products to be.

But, by going through them for the blog, I remember what I have, where it needs to be smoothed out or reorganized or supplemented or reinforced or fleshed out or modified in some other way. And I get to watch reader reactions. Substantive criticisms are very helpful for this kind of thing. (Personal attacks and insults, of course, quite a bit less so.)

And one of the things that I’ve been doing is to copy into the blog quotations that I’ve marked in books that I’ve read. That way, they’re typed out and can then simply be copied into my computerized note files. And, that way too, I’ve already shared something with my readers that I’ve found interesting. Otherwise, I’ve long been wondering when I would get the time to go through all of the books and articles that I’ve read and marked up. And the blog was eating up available time. Now, though, it’s giving me an incentive and an opportunity to extract those notes, which will substantially help the book projects along.

On the whole, I’m pleased with the experiment thus far. And, in any event, my previous practice was unsustainable. I enjoy blogging. I like to spout off on all sorts of subjects. But the books are the projects that I really care about, that I consider of fundamental importance — alongside, of course, one other Big Project that is in its beginning stages. (On which, more when the time is right.)

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 11, 2017

Some foreign stuff

Next Post

October 12, 2017 Books about two men regarded as prophets

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who alone went up the mountain with Moses to meet God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Miriam Joshua Hur Aaron