Make the tools fun again
In January 2002 I started my first blog. I’d read about Blogger for a few years and thought it was time to look deeper and see what I could do with it. I’ve been an introspective person for much of my life, so when it came time to come up with the title, I called it something that would signify the purpose for which it was created. I’d been journaling since I was in high school, and I saw blogging as an opportunity to do that. I named the blog “Journey Inside My Mind”. It was a scary title. Even now, it still scares me a bit. What will I find there? What will others find there?
Even so it was fun. I remember the enjoyment I got out of figuring out how to get certain things done with the tool. I learned how to change my template, add features, and even had fun spilling my guts and letting the creative juices flow. I recall impromptu posts where I’d create a poem from scratch.
In 2005 I learned about audio blogging and started listening to podcasts. I learned how to collect podcasts in a single location to listen to as an alternative to the radio, customized for my personal listening experience. Ever since I was a kid, I thought I’d love to be a DJ. I also learned how to create audio blog posts and eventually spent many hours learning how to create my first podcast episode.
Five years ago this month, I released the first episode of the Journey Inside My Mind podcast. I recall many nights of sleep those first months, in which I found myself thoroughly enjoying the creative process of putting together an online audio program that others might listen to. It was a natural outgrowth to experiments I’d had with cassette tapes back in high school.
Not long after, I settled into a routine, a weekly schedule, and produced the show. It was fun, experimental, and I felt a lot of freedom.
Over time, I learned more about what other bloggers and podcasters were doing, and I imitated and drew upon that knowledge. I refined my production process, I did some behind the scenes work to improve SEO. I refined the program to work toward a standard format.
But eventually I began to feel more constrained, and producing the podcast became more of a chore. I knew I’d need to allot a certain block of time to get it done, and sometimes I began to wonder why I would do it at all. I didn’t have a large audience, and I wasn’t getting a lot of feedback. Even though I often felt like I was doing it more for other people than for myself. So I lost interest, and last December, I put the show on an indefinite hiatus so that I could focus on other things that I felt had more importance.
Seven months later, I’ve rekindled that enjoyment for producing that podcast again. Last night I found myself doing more experiments with Audacity, just like I’d done five years ago. And I later recorded the first episode in the next stage of the Journey Inside My Mind podcast.
The point of all of this? Maybe you’re not into podcasting, but Twitter or Facebook or some other tool has gotten boring to you. Maybe you’ve stopped using it. Maybe there’s a blog that has been collecting dust in the corner of the internet. What new life can you breathe into it?
Make the tools fun again. Retool and rethink. Change things up. Make your own game. Make them useful to you. Let your passion show.
I don’t know how long this stage of the Journey Inside My Mind podcast will last. I just know it’s fun again.
Related articles
- The Selfish Art Of Podcasting (twistimage.com)
Tags: blogging, new media, passion, podcasting, social media
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