Working through some ideas out loud...
As I told Jennifer (my wife) and Wendy (the person whose blog inspired this one) when I started the Salt Mill, it really is a test of how to do something like this. I have invited several friends whose opinions matter to me to take a look at it.
That has gone very well. The feedback about tone and voice has been encouraging. I don't expect everyone to "keep up" with it. I know a few that have. Thanks for the support.
I subconsciously feel myself looking around at similar sites in a search for meaningful structure. The nature of "blogs" is that they are essentially online journals with all of the limitations of a journal.
The desire to do something daily leads to a sense that the "big picture" isn't being attended to in any meaningful way. It works well for collecting thoughts, so to speak, but not for exploring bigger ideas. There have been several times where I felt I wrote too much and said too little. Where the format exposes the reader to my thoughts in reverse order or forces me to fully explore a series of thoughts and POST in reverse order.
That leads me to consider a full-blown web site that links to the blog and an effort to roll out specific "theses" onto that site in an attempt to create a structure that has a longer life.
The one thing that prevents me from doing that--more than anything else--is a sense from the Gospels of how Jesus personally presented himself to those that were closest to him. He didn't create a big structure or leave behind a systematic theology. He lived daily with those he sought to influence. And they extracted the meaning from that (with the help and reminding of the Holy Spirit, of course).
Necessarily, writing is conceited...especially when the writer seeks an audience. I admire Jesus for allowing others to do the writing about him. None of US really deserves fame or attention of others. But many of us seek to make a difference in life by gaining the attention of others.
Some seek attention in order to create their own monuments--leaving behind their mark on the world. Others do so, they hope, for higher purposes. I would like to think my efforts fall into the latter category with the Salt Mill. But my humanity and my presence on this earth will always cause my motives to be subject to comment and at times even to just criticism.
I actually welcome that. It is something I have learned in the business world: complaints are gold ready to be mined. Attentive companies listen to all complaints and seek to make themselves better THROUGH the complaints. While eschewing the word "better", I seek to grow through this effort.
As Jennifer walked out the door just now, she said "ut-oh...he's blogging." I told her that when you blog about blogging it is a meta-blog (a nod to the somewhat presumptious but thoroughly entertaining geek culture classic Göedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter).
So...if you will...this is thinking about thinking. It isn't intended to take you anywhere, just to let you know that I do it...and that I am open to comments of all kinds.
That has gone very well. The feedback about tone and voice has been encouraging. I don't expect everyone to "keep up" with it. I know a few that have. Thanks for the support.
I subconsciously feel myself looking around at similar sites in a search for meaningful structure. The nature of "blogs" is that they are essentially online journals with all of the limitations of a journal.
The desire to do something daily leads to a sense that the "big picture" isn't being attended to in any meaningful way. It works well for collecting thoughts, so to speak, but not for exploring bigger ideas. There have been several times where I felt I wrote too much and said too little. Where the format exposes the reader to my thoughts in reverse order or forces me to fully explore a series of thoughts and POST in reverse order.
That leads me to consider a full-blown web site that links to the blog and an effort to roll out specific "theses" onto that site in an attempt to create a structure that has a longer life.
The one thing that prevents me from doing that--more than anything else--is a sense from the Gospels of how Jesus personally presented himself to those that were closest to him. He didn't create a big structure or leave behind a systematic theology. He lived daily with those he sought to influence. And they extracted the meaning from that (with the help and reminding of the Holy Spirit, of course).
Necessarily, writing is conceited...especially when the writer seeks an audience. I admire Jesus for allowing others to do the writing about him. None of US really deserves fame or attention of others. But many of us seek to make a difference in life by gaining the attention of others.
Some seek attention in order to create their own monuments--leaving behind their mark on the world. Others do so, they hope, for higher purposes. I would like to think my efforts fall into the latter category with the Salt Mill. But my humanity and my presence on this earth will always cause my motives to be subject to comment and at times even to just criticism.
I actually welcome that. It is something I have learned in the business world: complaints are gold ready to be mined. Attentive companies listen to all complaints and seek to make themselves better THROUGH the complaints. While eschewing the word "better", I seek to grow through this effort.
As Jennifer walked out the door just now, she said "ut-oh...he's blogging." I told her that when you blog about blogging it is a meta-blog (a nod to the somewhat presumptious but thoroughly entertaining geek culture classic Göedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter).
So...if you will...this is thinking about thinking. It isn't intended to take you anywhere, just to let you know that I do it...and that I am open to comments of all kinds.
posted by greg.w.h@7:29 AM link-to-post
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