I May Throw In The Proverbial Towel (Thoughts on Blogging & ProductiveLinux.com)
One of my favorite hobbies is blogging…I love to blog about movies, music, theology, and especially Linux-related technology. Over the past couple years, ProductiveLinux.com has become (to me) a very successful blog. With around 1200 subscribers and 8,000 average page views each month, I been given the privilege to have at least a small voice in the FOSS world. It’s been tons of fun developing a readership and having the opportunity to give back to the Linux community–one of the greatest groups of people on the planet. Because of the Linux crowd, I’ve been afforded opportunities through FOSS I never would have had otherwise, and (even more importantly) I’ve made some great friends along way.
Unfortunately, I think I may have to call it quits on the Linux blogging front. No, I probably won’t ever stop writing about what’s exciting me in the Linux world, but I may just not have the time to keep it up at my current pace. My goal for the past couple of years has been to post at least once a week (usually more than that) and not only talk about what I think is cool, but offer tips, tricks, and news related to my topic. Posting just a few times a week might not sound like it takes a lot of time…but it does, especially when you factor in research and feed-reading in order to stay on top of what’s happening in the ever changing world of Free and Open Source Software.
I’m really trying to spend more time on my music (since that is indeed what I do for a living, and it’s what I’m getting my Master’s degree in), and very soon, I’ll be a Dad. I’m thoroughly looking forward to fatherhood, but I know that it means I’ll have less time on my hands, and I don’t want to feel stressed because of self-imposed pressure to blog. Although Linux-blogging is fun and fulfilling on many levels, the fact is that when I try to do it on any kind of semi-professional level, it brings a bit of pressure with it. I’m not sure I need that in the context of my current life circumstances.
Right now, I’m strongly considering drastically reducing my posting frequency on my ProductiveLinux.com blog. I don’t think I could ever stop writing completely, so I know I’ll be throwing in a couple posts per month (at least) on cool stuff that pops up on my radar…but I’m not sure this warrants its own blog anymore. Why maintain an extra Wordpress installation, a domain, and design on a two-post-per-month blog? Maybe I should migrate the posts to the nathanrhale.com (my personal site), and just leave ProductiveLinux.com up as resource for Googlers, with a pointer to the new content at my personal blog. Or maybe it is worth it…after all, I’ve built a bit of a brand with ProductiveLinux, and it’s not too much work to keep things going…I’m just not sure what the best course of action is at this point.
I welcome any thoughts or advice my sage readers might offer.
Photo Credit: Limonada
It’s a bit sad but I fully understand you.
As for where to post the linux productivity stuff I think you should keep this blog.
I’m only interested in your linux postings and would rather have a feed with a few post a year rather than have my feed reader filled up with posts I’m not interested in. If you move this to your other blog I would probably just stop reading this productive linux stuff.
@David Thanks for the reply! If I moved the posts to my other site, I would offer a Linux-only feed.
Know the feeling Nathan, I also wrote for a blog about GNU/Linux as well as the various apps and so forth it had to offer from an end-user’s standpoint. http://themysticbird.com was my way of giving back to the community that had helped me so much and continues to do so. Due to the economy and other personal things going on in my life, I had to really slack off from it.
Your post reflects my own inner dilemma as I too am trying to figure out if I want to migrate the posts over to my personal site or leave them as is for Googler’s (as you put it) to use. I’m leaning towards keeping some of them for use on my personal site and leaving the rest as is on the other.
Either way, it’s a tough decision because as you said, we’ve developed a brand of sorts (although my subscribers don’t come close to yours) that we may not want to give up. Time vs. Persoanl Lives will be the deciding factor.
From one Southerner to another, good luck with the music career and especially to becoming a new Dad!
You could always try blogging casually about Linux and Music. :)
I’d definately recommend leaving it all up, just w/ a note somewhere for googlers saying this blog remains for archiving and you now blog on your personal site, etc.
That way you can hold on to the brand and come back to it later if you want to.
Another idea would be to get more people involved, open/crowd source it, as it were, see if you could put together a team of, say 4 people who would each be responsible for a new post once a month.
Get the team of 4 others organized before the baby comes and then just monitor things to make sure it doesn’t get out of control or something afterwards.
Open source and all that crap ;)
@JakeT I like the idea of bringing more people on board–actually that sounds like a lot of fun–but I wonder if it might bring with it it’s own set of issues as I monitor & maintain. I think that if/when I would return to consistent blogging here, I would definitely try to add at least one other writing partner.
You could combine forces with another blog, pool your resources, and feed off of increased posting frequency.