I don’t know if I can even express just how much I want to get outside. I have spring fever so bad it is not even funny. I know there are some around the country that are just happy to have it stop snowing. There hasn’t been snow in Salt Lake for over a month now, and the temps are near 50.
Perfect for fishing! I have got to get out and catch something. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about wanting to go fishing and how you can just have too much tackle to be effective. I still believe that I don’t need much stuff to go, just the time to do it. And my new pole. I received a new rod and reel in the mail the other day. The result of some contest I entered. While not the most expensive rod you can get, it is pretty darn sweet. I can’t wait to go try it out. I am really leaning towards this week and one of the community ponds that we have here.
I had that rod in my living room for a few days telling my wife that I just needed to get some line on it and I would put it away. I got a roll of brand new 8 lb test flourocarbon line, something I have never used before. I spooled it onto my reel. I resisted the temptation to tie on a lure and see if the fish in my aquarium would bite. One time I taped a fly on the outside of the aquarium just to watch the fish go crazy. It was great fun.
So now, my new rod lies dormant in the dark of my camping trailer. I can hear it calling to me. It is like Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. I can hear it. I can feel it. I am pathetic. I need to go fishing.
What does this obsession have to do with blogging? This is the passion that is needed to power your blog from “just another blog” to something with a known name that people want to read. I keep referencing Ben at 6aliens.com and James at TheInfopreneur.net as well as Dave at website-in-a-weekend.net. No I am not getting paid to pimp their sites, they are just my inspiration in this whole blog adventure that I am undertaking. They are all great examples of tenacity and the passion that it takes to keep a site going and be successful. Now, I am defining successful here as many pageviews and comments.
James is a madman and posts up to 3 times per day! Ben is all over the net and besides content on his site he has regular guest posts on other sites. Dave is a savant when it comes to WordPress and has valiantly recovered from a hackers attack in the last couple of weeks. They are all still reading, posting and commenting all over the web.
That is what is worthy to emulate. Drive, passion. Making things happen. Paring down the crap out there and focusing on what counts for your blog, and your writing. It is about being like a kid before Christmas when a new plugin arrives that you just can’t wait to use.
It is about using new tools that you haven’t heard of before. It is about continuously refining techniques and your site until it works. Until people want to read what you write. Can you do it?? I am. I want to toss out a line to Blogistan and reel back in readers.
I can’t wait to write more and read everything in my RSS reader. If you are reading this you rock! Check out my Pre-Writing Challenge page to track progress on that.
Please feel free to comment if the mood strikes and that fly that I taped to your monitor is tempting!
Justin
