How to make a bad blog

First, a fun photo from an oceanic blow hole on the pacific coast of Mexico with my kids and some cousins just about to get soaked:


Now then, I believe completely in the premise that bloggers want to be read. Even those who write journals are writing for the future audience of themselves and, I think, the idea of others reading is present then as well.

Some may disagree, but I think anybody who takes the time to write and then publish to the interwebs hopes for readers, even if they don't want to admit it massages their egos.

So, with that in mind, there is one really easy way to make sure nobody reads your blog: don't write. Simply avoid updating your blog on a daily or almost daily basis and all the momentum you built up with previous bits of humor, insight or personality will evaporate.

The best bloggers, the ones who achieve a following of readers who care enough to check back, almost certainly update almost daily. I believe there is an unwritten but real contract between a blogger and a reader. The blogger throws his stuff out there for others to partake of and readers participate by giving it attention and perhaps even commenting back. If a writer generates enough words and enough images that are of interest, they might get regular readers. The reader has invested time and brain power and in most cases, expects to read more.

Writers who don't update, break the contract and lose readers.

Going to Mexico this month and being off the grid completely ruined my habitual thought process of thinking about and posting here at the shower-thoughts blog. So, I decided that isn't acceptable and I am either going to maintain good posting habits or I am going to not blog any longer. It is either worth my time and energy or it isn't. I hope to find out from myself that it is.

Like any writer (even if they don't admit it) I produce content for a perceived audience made up of friends and perhaps even a stranger or two. If nobody read or nobody cared there wouldn't be a reason to write. There is some evidence that people care but if I can't maintain a steady posting schedule, if I can't demonstrate to myself that I care, the blog must die.