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February 26, 2005
She Ain't Heavy, She's My Diary
A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double. ~ Toni Morrison
Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer. ~ Louise Glück
I have issues with people who blog about blogging. Which is a trifle silly, being as blogging is about your life and the activities within that human subset. Naturally, given that blogging is one of those actions, you may, from time to time want to rant/talk/rhapsodize about it. But it gets all space-time-continuum on me. Like standing between two mirrors and looking to the side to glimpse the infinite reincarnations of yourself. A little narcissistic and dizzying.
But it occurs to me that while I'm still tinkering with the style sheet and trying out colors (yes, I picked these colors ON PURPOSE -- some colors were rejected and went away bitter) and agonizing over layout quirks I might want to explain why I am going to maintain both a Diary and a Blog. At least in theory.
Short answer: I'm too stubborn to give up Diary. Long answer isn't that simple (thus, it is the long answer).
Yes, I have an affection for Diary. In fact, when I started out Diary was php and used dynamic software (its software was intended for use with news sites, but that's neither here nor there). It just didn't work for me. From a business standpoint, straight HTML reads better in search engines. From a me standpoint, I could control every aspect of the html: I understood it and could manipulate it as I wished. I didn't ever have to rely on someone else for aid. But now, updating Diary is a hassle in comparison to dynamic blog software. And so, I've carved out this space -- for my day to day silliness. I can post pics or rant about politics, or flitter about the weather and it is nearly effortless. Besides, it will keep me off message boards were trouble breeds.
But I can't just do the same thing to Diary. First of all, many people have linked to individual entries and it feels disingenuous to change it all now. Second, well, the search engine benefits still apply business-wise. And, lastly, I just *want* it there. I want it to be hard work to update it. To be a deliberate act; my personal little ritual. To be there when I have something more to say than just the banter that pops into my head. Something I needed to stew over and delve into more deeply. And I'd like to keep the industry stuff over there instead of here. Sort of like separating my work space from my personal space. Though, let's face it, we all know I'm going to overlap. The tracks of my various trains of thought criss-cross diabolically, which is why there are so many collisions.
Who knows. Maybe I'll fall in love with straight-up blogging and retire the Diary. Or maybe it'll just be one more duality in a life already flush with dualities.
Anyway, I thought if I'm going to give this space its due, I needed to explain to it what made it different from its older sibling. Hopefully, it'll cut down on the hair-pulling.
Idle Prattle | Internal Combustion by Doxy at 04:49 PM | permalink | talkback (1)
Comments
I spent the last few weeks going over all of my sites and today for the first time in months I decided to do a little research and came across your Diary site. I always have time to read your Diary and it is the only competitive site I read. Oddly enough I have gone through much of the same soul searching to try and balance my blogs. Living in Washington, DC it is hard to avoid talking about politics and I try not in include political chatter on my blog. But sometimes ... I think this blog is a great idea. Your hair will love it.
Oh I do have two suggestions for the "Stuff I Read" category: http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/ and http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Cheryl ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 25, 2005 07:29 AM
