The 3 P's of Blogging

Well, my run of Mega Man 4 is complete and posted on YouTube, and I have to say I'm relieved. While I greatly enjoyed playing through the game and adding the audio commentary, something always goes wrong when processing or uploading the videos, replaying levels endlessly to get the perfect video footage can be time-consuming and frustrating, finding a time when it's quiet enough to do audio recording can be a challenge, it's sometimes taxing to come up with interesting things to talk about, and it's exhausting to talk almost continuously for hours on end--especially if I need to re-record anything (which I always do).

After something like a month (I've lost track) of dedicating the majority of my free time to this project, I'm more than glad that I can waste an entire night just fighting random enemies in Tales of Symphonia and not feel like I should really be doing anything else.

...Except writing for this blog, of course.

That's the thing: my creative energies have been so focused on audio commentary (and, at the very end of June, on GameCola stuff) that it's been difficult to blog. Whether due to self-imposed time constraints or fatigue, I haven't been as passionate about or satisfied with my posts here during the last few weeks as I normally am.

The last post I was truly, totally satisfied with was my Father's Day reflection (from June 20th), and the one before that was the one where I mused about Star Trek and cereal boxes (from June 6th). Well, alright, I guess was pretty satisfied with my introduction to the "wonky rock" group Tally Hall (from June 29th), too.

Still.

Even when you take into consideration that we don't usually post on Sundays and that I only write about 50% of the posts during any given week, those are still some rather large gaps to be even partially unsatisfied with my writing.

I've even considered going back to spruce up a few of my posts once I have the energy, starting with my introduction to the Universal Hint System, which should have been so much funnier than it was. I have no compunction about revising old blog posts; not that anyone would have noticed this, but I periodically go back to older Exfanding posts (such as my introductions to webcomics, Mega Man, and Space Quest) to spruce them up with better/more pictures and updated information as the fandoms expand and my knowledge of them increases.

If this were an ordinary blog, I probably wouldn't bother. But, Alex and I are planning on sticking with this blog for a while, and if/when we decide to close up shop, there are plans of turning this into a more traditional website, with something like an index of fandoms that you can peruse and learn more about.

Heck, it's not too terribly long before we celebrate this blog's first birthday, and we're already thinking ahead to how we're going to celebrate that. A lot more goes on behind the scenes of this humble little blog than one might expect, and we are at our best when there's more happening here than just figuring out who wants to post tomorrow.

That would be Alex, by the way.

See? We do think ahead.

The way I see it, there are three major factors that contribute to our success and enjoyment with this blog: Passion, Planning, and Persistence. Almost all of my Passion has been directed elsewhere for the past few weeks, and during this time, Alex and I have been too preoccupied with other non-bloggy matters to put in as much Planning as usual. Persistence prevails, for we continue to stick to our daily posting schedule, and thus we stay afloat.

However, I'm not content to stop at "afloat."

I'm eager to get back into writing the diverse and meaty posts I know I'm capable of, and I'm psyched to do some real work behind the scenes again. Alex and I will be meeting this weekend to discuss important matters of bloggery, and I'm anticipating getting the kind of creative jumpstart I've been looking for.

That being said, this is a perfect time for feedback, whether you review us on Technorati, give us a rating and review on Blogged, say something on our Facebook page, or leave a comment on this post. It's entirely possible that what I've written in the past month is, in your opinion, better than anything else I've written previously, and that's valuable knowledge right there.

For the record, I am not dissatisfied with Exfanding Your Horizons. I'm impressed with how far we've come, and I'm pleased with the overall quality of the blog. Alex continues to be a great blogging partner, and I'm grateful to have a little corner of the Internet that we can call our own.

I'm not dissatisfied with the quality of my recent posts so much as I am dissatisfied with my lack of focus and passion. You can tell from the likes of Waiting for Wednesday and yesterday's post that Alex is invested in his blogging and is sticking with a direction; more than anything else, I want to restore the clear focus and passion for blogging I had back in May so that the two writers of this blog can once again be united in writing with a purpose about the things they love.

That's what this blog is about, after all. I want to pour my heart into what I write. I want to have a plan that's bigger than simply meeting the 11 AM posting deadline. I strongly believe that what you do is not as important as why you do it; if I can't look back on each of my posts and say, "I truly enjoyed writing that, and I'm proud of it," then I'm not blogging for the right reasons, and there's little point in expending the effort required to carry on with the blog if there's no satisfaction in doing so.

Quick fact: I truly enjoyed writing this post, and I'm proud of it. You don't even have to like it or agree with any of my thoughts. For the first time in a while, I'm satisfied with my writing.

All is well.