Benedict’s Babeldom

Merlin Mann and John Gruber recently gave a talk at SXSW about how to blog. They start off with several assumptions/requirements about someone who wants to make a blog at the start of their talk:

1. I make things
2. I care very much about certain issues or topics, to a point where it’s verging on obsession
3. I want to get better at these things
4. I want the credibility and respect of people I admire
5. I want to find an opportunity that goes beyond the self-improvement aspects of blogging

Gruber then quotes Walt Disney: “We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.”

I’d say I’m off to a pretty good start so far.

1. I do make things, but not as many as I’d like. This page will hopefully serve as a place where I can share my work with others, and receive feedback.

2. This is probably my weakest point since there isn’t only one specific thing I’d like to write about. I’d like this blog to be about the things I love and want to write about. My posts will most likely be split into one of three categories: coding, gaming, and thoughts. Coding will be where I’ll post about projects I’m working on, classes I’m taking, and things I’m learning. Gaming will be the place for writing about game design, the gaming industry, games I’m working on, etc. Anything that doesn’t fit into these categories will be put under “thoughts.” I will try using categories to make all these entries very separable. This will not be a place where I write about my personal life unless they relate directly to one of these topics. I will also have a projects page that I’ll update with things I’m working on, and things I’ve finished.

3. I am not good at most things. I’m really new to programming since I’ve been doing it for less than three years, and really don’t know much. At all. Games have been something I’ve loved since I can remember, and would like to move into making them. Right now is a very exciting time where indy games are having a huge impact on the gaming industry and it’s future, and it’s something I want to be a part of. Overall, this is a place where I’d also like to improve my writing. As a computer science major I don’t have to take many courses where I have to write, and I feel I’m losing my touch as the most intensive writing I’m doing right now is writing work e-mails.

4. I admire people who make things. I admire Merlin Mann for his millions of projects, most of which are informative or hilarious. To earn the respect of someone like Merlin Mann would be mindblowing, and hopefully I can cultivate my voice to the point where people care. When people start caring what I think, and what I’m working on is when I’ve succeeded with this blog.

5. When Merlinn said this, he was referring to making money. I don’t want to make money off a blog. I want to get better at writing, share my opinions, get better at things I care about, and have people care. Right now I don’t expect anyone to care about this blog. Hopefully I will look back at this first post in a couple years and shudder at how much I’ve improved.

Over spring break I was watching a video of the talk that Jeff Atwood gave at CUSEC this year. The title of the talk is “Is Writing More Important Than Programming?” One of his slides says “Starting a blog in 2004 is, by far, the most important thing I’ve ever done in my professional life as a software developer. My only mistake? Not starting sooner.” So I’m starting now. As a later slide says: “It doesn’t maker what you’ve done if nobody knows about it.”