"And then ... I hear it yowling."

The blog is hungry. The blog will not be ignored. It is an insatiable little beast, a creature still unclassified by science -- hairy, warty, slobbering, with its own fiendish agenda. I often fantasize about killing the blog, but I worry that it will respond just like the crazed computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey": It will try to kill me first.

-- "The Tail That Wags The Blog," WaPo, Aug 21, 05

Those of you who are all, "Clearly, the quote's meant to allude to the weblogger's own ambivalence about her weblog. And now, the inevitable 'Whither weblogging?' navel gazing" ... why are you still here? You win! You correctly predicted what the topic of this post is. You can now avoid reading it.

Anyway ... The Rage Diaries turned two this month. In theory, it's testing boundaries and throwing tantrums in public places and attracting stares from other, judgmental people who are all, "Isn't it a little old for diapers?" I had planned, way back when I was making my sweetly naive and overly optimistic list of 105 Things in 2005, to throw a virtual rager to celebrate two years of sustained writing online.

Except that really, when combing through the archives, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to celebrate. I had originally begun posting links because I was tired of my bookmarks list -- too many links, too hard to organize, too little ability to wrap context around the data. At the time, I figured that I would just keep posting, and eventually whatever editorial focus I had would arise organically from the compost heap of my attention span. (As would the magical ability to write using metaphors that were not at all labored.)

Well, it's been two years, and while I'm certainly not lacking for interest in assorted topics, I am lacking either the intense topical focus or the clearly defined editorial progression that marks many of my own favorite online reads. I am thinking that two years of random posting without any hint of an editorial roadmap is hardly something to celebrate.

A billion years ago in Internet time, before I knew him personally, I read Chris Rywalt's It's Just Another Baby and thought, "This ... is what the Internet is for. Tracking the parallel progressions of author and subject matter." It's the same reason I dug the Julie/Julia project -- she had her organizing editorial principle, and when she had mined it, the project was done.

I'm not saying every online writing venture has to be limited both in topical scope and time period (for one thing, I am tremendously fond of home-renovation weblogs, and I've yet to find an author there who ever thinks they'll be done with their topic materal) -- but there's a lot to be said for honing your focus and sticking to it. As a reader, I like it. I see no reason why I shouldn't try to do likewise for any of my own readers.

Now if I can only figure out what the focus is -- or should be. I suspect I am too close to it to see. I am welcoming any suggestions or feedback within reason. This is the brainstorming stage of solving my problem -- there should, I hope, be more to come.

Happy birthday, Rage Diaries! You're getting an existential crisis!

Comments

[Mirella]

Can't your focus just be thoughtful and insightful commentary? That's why I come here. I know the topics will be wildly diverse, but I'll always come away knowing something I didn't know before and often exclaiming, "Wow, I never looked at it that way before!" I've enjoyed your commentary on religion, consumerism, reading habits ... I'd hate to see you narrow your topical focus.

I think there's a place for topic-driven blogs, but I also think there is a place for thought-driven blogs, and yours is a shining example of the latter. I admire your ability to digest and analyize trends and behavior. Keep up the good work, Lisa.

[Mary]

I enjoy coming here and finding out what is going on in your life (you never call--you never write!) and also find out what has tweaked your focus most recently. I always enjoy the read and frequently follow links or look further on my own.

I think of this as a personal reader service from someone that I know and trust and enjoy reading. If I check it every few days or once a week, something is going to catch my attention as well.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Rage Diaries.

[Sheila]

Here's another vote for continuing with your theme of "an intelligent person saying interesting things about scattered subjects." It's a perfectly fine theme, and it's why I check your site pretty much every day.

[MFS]

Happy birthday! And here's still another vote for the theme "good, smart writer tackles wide range of themes well."

Best regards

[cirocco]

I really like the fact that I never know what I'm going to get when I come here. When I call a friend I don't know what kind of mood she's going to be in, whether she's worked up about Wal*Mart's personnel policies or she's going to tell me "Hey, today I read this article that mentioned Donna Troy! Like Wonder Girl!" It's a human quality that content-specific blogs don't have.

Often I'll look at a magazine rack and notice that the media seems to be getting ever-more compartmentalized; it's very easy for people to narrow the topics on which they choose to inform themselves. I would hate to see you quit writing about fashion or publishing or whatever didn't fit into some semi-arbitrary boundary you drew for TRD.

[verucaamish]

Add me to the chorus of voices that says you do have a focus. That's your voice. For one thing, I think you hold a high standard towards writing that is a cogent reaction to media, culture and consumerism as opposed ot a blah de blah rant. It's calling us to look a bit deeper in our analysis of what we're buying, reading, viewing.

[naomi]

Bit late and I don't comment that often but I agree with the above that I love coming to this blog for the variety that it has (and the monkeys). It's nice to hear your thoughts and reactions to both the major stories and the smaller ones that I wasn't even aware of until I read them here.