A quick search and I find that the dog days of Summer can mean, “a period of stagnation or inactivity”. That’s how I’ve been feeling lately; not much that I want to say and not wanting to produce just C-level work, which Christian Long describes as:
Just write (or copy), link, publish…and get a guaranteed C in the audience’s mind. Some will be appreciative that the writing went down easy. That you offered them an encyclopedia of content that saves them a trip to the library. A few may even tune back in to see if you write anything again in the future. Emphasis on being polite. A few back-door rule makers and play-it-safe writers seem to enjoy the process. Quickly forgotten, otherwise.
Christian describes A-level blogging as much more engaging :
Or, and this only matters if audience matters, push equally hard on your own assumptions as you do your readers’ expectations. Take a topic well known or just on the scant edge of global awareness…and mash it up a bit, dust it off, tweak, twist, and deconstruct so that it begins to take on a life of its own. You and the reader(s) are no longer able to see the original question quite the same way ever again. Do that with a decent flair for writing — no matter how ‘correct’ in terms of the MLA — and there is an decent chance that the blog-grading-razzi will not only come back around again and again to see what’s grabbing your attention, but the off-line conversations between you and them will take flight as well.
My audience matters and I don’t have any A-level material (let alone B-level) churning through my mind. It could be the Summer heat or maybe I need a break.
Therefore, I shall pause here a while.
We’ll be waiting…
I don’t think you’re too worried about the grade you get on your posts.
I’ll have to start thinking of my own lapses as “periods of reflection.” Much more…focused, don’t you think?
Sometimes when you have nothing to say, it’s a great idea not to say it. Not that I take that advice often myself.
Dave, the harshest critic of my posts is me.
I think my reaction to my own posts makes me a pretty harsh critic. I often want to go back and tweak something, on rereading it — amazing how the post looks different after “publish” rather than “preview.”
I guess there’s no substitute for reality.