I’m being melodramatic, for sure. I think blogging today may be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Do you feel like this ever? Like you’d rather pull out your fingernails with a pair of rusty pliers than post to your blog?
I really really want to make this like second nature. Take for instance, this oddball blog called The Bleat.. Why the period at the end, I don’t know. I’ve been following it now for a week or two. This guy, James Lilek, is a machine. A Minnesotan like myself, he’s also a regular columnist for our local paper, the Star Tribune. And did I mention his blog made Time Magazine’s Top 25 Blogs of 2009?
I’d definitely describe it as a personal blog. Unless you’re really into vintage advertising and old matchbook collections, there’s little on The Bleat I’d describe as having mainstream appeal. Mr. Lileks is religious about posting Monday through Friday, which I admire. There’s a few gimmicks to get you hooked. For instance, he’ll regularly submit a what-the-hell-are-they-advertising-here post and reveal the answer next day.
Maybe the editors at Time’s Magazine are smoking crack, but I’ve got to say that I’m really enjoying The Bleat.. First off, I commend anyone who can live in Minnesota and not constantly complain about the shit weather here. Mr. Lileks is funny, too. It’s a wry sort of humor. Like his latest post which begins, “I have wood in my hand. It’s technically a splinter, but it came from a large chunk of wood I put in the fireplace.”
He’s also not afraid to use big words. When I read his posts I often have to consult a dictionary. There are an inordinate amount of blogs run by marketing folks wanting to make dime and it’s refreshing to read a blogger that doesn’t try to please everybody by writing in a watered-down vernacular.
Mr. Lileks is also not afraid to date himself. I’m not talking a candle-lit dinner at a fancy restaurant. One of the first posts of his I read was about how wrong some of the predictions in the 80’s movie hit Back to the Future turned out. For fear of alienating their audience, I think most bloggers avoid covering marginal topics that havn”t been discussed in the mainstream in the past decade. Mr. Lileks is not afraid to dive right into antiquity.
There’s no list posts on The Bleat.. None of the gimmicks you see in other blogs on the net. It’s not unusual for his posts to run well over a thousand words long. They’re uncompromising. Mr. Lileks is truly a man comfortable in his own skin. Humor seems to flow from him effortlessly, whether he’s analyzing bizarre advertising on the web or discussing his own eccentric hobbies, his day to day life, or his family. This is what a personal blog should be. Uncompromising and human. If you want to write a personal blog, take note. Carry your freak flag high.
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