Being a successful blogger

I'm not always an organized person. I fluctuate between keeping a tidy room with organized areas for my homework and ignoring a messy room with folders somewhere along the foot of my bed. At the beginning of the year, I establish a certain time for me to do my homework and I refuse to do anything pertaining to "my time" until my work for the day is finished.

And yet I've got a growing list of things to do each day.

I don't often keep myself tied to a strict schedule. Sometimes that's great (it leaves me flexible), and sometimes it's awful (homework is occasionally done at the last minute and in a sloppy manner). I believe this describes me as a blogger. I'm open to suggestions, but I always don't do anything with the suggestions. I try to be insightful, but my posts aren't always regular.

When William Jacobson, blogger and founder of Legal Insurrection, visited our Independent Media class, the most important thing I took from it was this: Bring something new to your blog everyday. If you don't give people a reason to come back and see what you want to say, you need to make frequent--but well-thought--posts.

This has not always been easy for me. I keep another blog for fun, something I find to be important for bloggers who want to find a way to think and write about a subject everyday. For me, it's video games--the reviews, previews, news, rumors, and discussions of gaming culture. I try to balance posting to that blog as well as posting to this blog (you know, since this is for a class), but things often don't work out as planned. There are times when I honestly can't think of anything to write about. And when I do write something, I often ramble (like I'm doing here right now!).

I guess my point is--to be a successful blogger, you have to commit to it. You don't need to quit your day job to do it, but you do need to cut into some of your personal time to maintain your blog. To do that, you need to set aside time to post daily, study your subject, and interact with your readers. I only hope that I can improve on all three of those things.