So, my friend Dom posted a good link on facebook today: why all graduate students should blog:
http://www.drewconway.com/zia/?p=2174
Which then made me feel guilty about my own lack of blogging recently. I wondered why I tail off on these things. I think it comes down to:
1) Time. My life gets hectic… my job (postdoc) is busy, at grant time it gets even busier. I look after 2 cats and 4 aquariums, and soon 1 Chinese water dragon….not to mention partial responsibility for my boyfriend’s dog, while weightlifting 4 times a week, doing 3 dance classes a week, reading a book a month, trying to keep up with my friends in England (I don’t do an awesome job at this), travelling where possible and trying to spend at least one full day a week hiking or biking. My ‘to do’ list spans from ‘repaint the exterior of the flat’ to ‘put my laundry away from last week… and the week before… and the week before… and (ad infinitum). Sometimes it feels that I don’t have time to blog. But then I can spent a lot of time surfing the ‘net, throwing things at my boyfriend, mindlessly watching said fish tanks, or just staring into space. So…. I guess I do have time.
2. Lack of confidence “Oh, I have nothing to say”… “no one wants to read it” “what I do have to say is silly”. Well, the link above shoots that down. The fact that I am a postdoc is practically a qualification to talk about my work (which I admit I rarely do) , and I have received some great emails from people about my recipes and posts… so I should give up on that one. I may not have a lot to say about one particular topic… but that was the point of getting a wordpress account – you can write about anything, and just keep them under different categories.
3. Lack of consistency – with time and topic. Well… it doesn’t matter. You can just pick up a neglected blog anytime.
4. Technology. Sometimes I am awesome with it… occasionally it confuses me… often it makes angry. Apple screwed over their mobile me customers a while ago – once I missed a load of important emails, and once it told me that I didn’t have enough storage space for my blog… made me buy more… then said it was wrong all along and didn’t refund my money. So I stopped using mobile me. And lost my blog. I would like to copy the old entries over here, but that is on my ‘to do’ list (see #1).
So really…. after Dom’s enthusiasm I am resolved to get blogging more regularly. And I will. Because the no.1 benefit is:
1. I love a record of my thoughts / experiences. I moved from London to Alabama and wrote a blog about it – I love reliving all that. Just for my own edification, it is a great thing.