Blogging on the go is a myth.
This week I set out on a fact finding mission. The mission was two fold. One, it was to see if I could time budget enough to actively update my blogs while on vacation. The second was to see if I could create good, solid new content to post to those blogs.
I wanted to see if those ‘beach bum makes 250,000 in one month!’ claims could even remotely be possible. Mind you, I am not making nearly that much money a month. If you remove three zeros, you are probably pretty close to what I will make blogging and maintaining content websites in the month of January.
The first thing I noticed is the feeling of panic and the need to find a wireless connection to do website maintenance. Being away from home, I needed to make sure I could get to the internet at any point and time. I just picked up a new client and his website is pretty active. So I was exchanging emails with him and editing PHP codes wherever I could. Panera Breads, highway rest stops, free airport wi-fi were some of the locations I frequented this week. And when I was there, I always felt the need to buy something. I always feel guilty using free wi-fi services, especially when I am using their services to try to make a living.
The second thing was how uncomfortable it was to be creative in these sorts of environments. Panera Bread is designed to sell food. Not be an office for a part-time blogger. There were a lot of distractions and noisy things such as kid fighting, pans clanking and people talking at ungodly volumes. I really do not know why I felt this would be conducive to successful blogging. Whenever I write songs, I make sure I am in an environment which I felt comfortable in. The same now applies to blogging for me.
Lastly, even though I was able to get over those first two things, having to spend lots of times on the websites proved to make the time off feel more like work. I love to blog, I love to edit my websites and I love to help people and the blogging community. But I don’t think I enjoyed it from other places. I wanted to see things, do things and instead I was stuck inside the confining walls of free wi-fi locations.
I think blogging is a great medium and it gives a lot of flexibility for people to lead the lives they want to lead. But I think you still need to have the structure to work when you need to work and rest when you need to rest.
Being comfortable is the key to success in any business or art medium. This entire week I was not comfortable. I missed MY chair, I missed MY desk, and every one of my personal distractions that I have become accustomed to.
Next time you see the advice you can blog from anywhere, take it with a grain of salt. You still have to feel creative and sometimes, you cannot be that far away from your normal routine.
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