I was a long time, coming to the decision to start a blog.  Its such a silly word, for starters.  My history with cyber communities isn’t a happy one, I’m socially awkward and I have an unhappy knack of rubbing people up the wrong way.  My partner refers to me as ‘The Grim Reaper Of Threads’  I’ve always empathised with the character of Bernard Black of the ABC’s sitcom “Black Books”.  Like him, I have just a few close friends (who I suspect are all masochists) and I don’t seem to have the right attitude towards the population at large. I’d like them all to just go away and leave me alone but I seem to have an unsettling need for contact with my fellow beings. Still, I felt like I might have something to share with the world … So here I am.

As is my usual habit when approaching any new venture, I started out by doing some online research on what makes a successful blog.  I did this scientifically by picking the blogging authority who seemed the most credible ….. that is, she was female and reasonably pretty.  And it took only a few paragraphs before I realised the sheer futility of me trying to start a blog at all.  You see, I don’t think I have a snowflake’s chance in hell of achieving the three C’s of successful blogging.

Apparently, If I want my blog to be successful, I need to pursue these three C’s …. consistency, comments and community.  She lost me at consistency, for starters.  I am supposed to produce web posts that are similar in tone and style, so’s my ‘audience’ enjoys a consistent experience when they visit my blog.  This way, they will know what to expect before they read my stuff and won’t look silly to their friends if they recommend me. Well good luck with that! From one day to the next, I don’t have a consistent experience when I open my eyes in the morning!  My life is not consistent.  In any given week, I will spend time repairing worn out motor vehicles, mending fences, fishing, woodworking or any of a hundred other pursuits ….. and that’s before I even get to sitting around, pondering the meaning of life and how to save the universe!  Some days I am content and smug, other days I’m miserable as sin. Sometimes I’m confident and self assured and other times I’m terrified of my own shadow….. gees; I can go through the full range of emotions in any given hour!  ……. so, so much for the consistency thing!

Comments is where I ask you, the reader, for your opinions on my opinions …. and then pretend to give a hoot, if you happen to disagree with me.  Two things, OK?   I don’t CARE if you disagree and I sincerely hope that you do.  The fact is, I’m not sure that I agree with me, much of the time.  And my views, like the weather, are changeable.  I think the hallmark of any intelligent mind is its ability to change and adapt, when its presented with new and seemingly valid information.

And finally, there is “Community”.  This is where your blog starts to attract a group of regulars who are probably likewise ‘bloggers’ and you are supposed to get involved in their blogs, exchange links and comments and feel all warm and fuzzy, interacting with each other in Blogland.  Having wasted more time than I’d like to admit, wading through posts on Facebook, I long ago decided that I, wretched creature that I am, must be missing the community gene.  Try as I might, I just can’t get excited by the photo of what some relative has just baked in the oven, the you tube video of someone destroying a motor vehicle in a cloud of burning rubber, or if some relative is having dinner at Macca’s.

If all this wasn’t enough to put me off, I then read that, to be successful, my posts need to be entertaining and short!  Does anybody see a problem here?

If I could somehow transform my Psyche into that of a successful blogger, I would KNOW I was successful by …… having loads of visitors to my blog, getting lots of positive feedback that made me feel warm and fuzzy …. and making lots of money.  When I finally discovered exactly what a successful blog is, I must say that I felt a lot better about starting my own.  Clearly, the world’s definition of success is pretty well aligned with my definition of failure.

If I write posts that are short and entertaining (oh, and I’m supposed to include lots of bright pictures to provide some ‘relief’ from the strain of thinking) then I won’t be able to do what I wanted to do in the first place …… namely share my thoughts.  My thoughts are NOT entertaining, bright, short or shiny.  If I have lots of blog fans, then I obviously didn’t upset or unsettle too many people.  And if I made lots of money, then I must have sold something …. probably my soul.

I wanted to start a blog because I find that I have ideas sometimes that seem to be at odds with mainstream thinking.  At times, I think that society is pretty messed up and that western people in particular seem to live their lives on Autopilot, just going through the motions of daily existence without ever thinking for themselves or challenging the status quo.  And if I don’t share my thoughts somewhere, then they will die with me.  That seems like a shame somehow …. after the considerable agony of bringing them into being.

My hope is that I just might share something that will inspire somebody else to think about my subject matter, maybe in a new way and not necessarily as I do.  The thing that marks us humans apart from the rest of creation, is our ability to think.  But thinking is just about the hardest work that I know of.  How sad that so many people sell out on their unique capacity for thought and logic, in favor of the ease and convenience of living on auto-pilot and getting their thoughts pre-packaged by the media, their religion and their social network software.  I reckon that the collective thoughts of mankind are the birthright of every human.  Its incumbent upon us to make the best use we can of the amazing minds that we are given and we do nothing to honour creation when we choose to live out our intellectual existence in ease and mediocrity.

So I suppose I should do now, what I should have done before my blogging research started … ie define what constitutes ‘success’ for my blog.  I guess it will be consistently inconsistent, it won’t have many fans because it won’t be ‘entertaining’; there won’t be loads of flashy images, interesting links with games thrown in and I don’t suppose it will make lots of money. (If you REALLY want to send me pot loads of cash though, that is your right.  Just message me and I’ll send you the necessary details.)  My posts will often be long and a bit boring and my ‘readership’ and communication will be limited to people like you ….. those precious few who have the spark of curiousity, the intellectual stamina and the lack of anything better to do …. that allowed you to read this post right to the end.  Thank you, with all my heart.

Andrew.

Andrew Caddle 20130714

andrewcaddle.com

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                                     A LITTLE HELP PLEASE

If you find anything on my website that you feel is interesting, amusing or thought-provoking, please consider sharing it on your social media site or emailing it to a friend. Links are provided at the bottom of each post to facilitate this.  Your help in getting my work out into the world will be very much appreciated.

Thank you, Andrew.

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