I killed about 50 hours last night going through my Google Reader, which I haven’t done in quite some time.  I’m guessing it was before the beginning of the school semester in January.  So, yeah; I was a little behind.

A few things occurred to me, one of which is that I don’t really like reading blogs.  Of course, I knew this already, but I can ignore the annoyance if I’m reading a few entries every day.  Whereas, sitting down to read 700 posts about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in one night makes it hard to pretend that I’m actually interested.  Outside of the fact that most use people use their blog to chronicle their life and most peoples lives are more boring than a 24-hour dish washing marathon in a windowless 4 x 4 room, I find that bloggers are just plain lazy, writing-wise.

My biggest pet peeve?  Lists.  Lists are NOT meant for publication.  Lists are a form of brainstorming.  Once you’ve made the list, you should READ it to discover what, if any, connections exist between the listed items, and then rewrite the list in paragraph form including those connections.  Otherwise, the reader has to figure out what the connections are and–guess what???–readers are even lazier than writers.  They don’t want to do work; they’re Reading Blogs all day long.  Brain=Mush.  Does a lead-in sentence previewing what you see as the overall theme of the list substitute for actual writing?  No.  No, it doesn’t.  Have I ever written a list? Yes, but only when I was feeling TOO LAZY TO ACTUALLY WRITE ANYTHING.  (p.s. numbered lists are okay, but only if used appropriately, e.g. to put things in order.)

The next thing that bugs me?  Blogs that end in a question.  I mean, how much more obvious (read: needy) could you be?  I have an idea! Why don’t you write something that actually makes people think, and maybe then they will respond to you without the begging.  Note that I said “maybe” because one thing I’m learning from the 30POV Project is that sometimes people just don’t comment.  Even when your post is {probably} the best thing that’s ever been written for a blogging-audience.  Maybe I should just give up on humanity altogether, but I’d much rather live in a world where really great writing goes ignored over a world where lackluster writing that ends in groveling goes ignored.

The final thing I just can’t stand? I don’t know; it’s a tie between every-day blogging and ignoring your reader(s) altogether.  Actually, the two are probably related.  I mean, how could you actually sit down, think about what you’re going to write and who might read it and why they might read it and what it might make them feel and how you could get your point across, etc. etc. when you’re posting something Every Single Day.  Yeah, yeah; I get it.  You have goals, daily ones.  You want to record your weight loss/gain or your success at new recipes or your cat’s antics which are just So Cute… Since I can only assume that you want to record these things for your own posterity and not mine, why blog them? Get a journal, or–if you must write online–make it private.  Hell, go to Twitter even.  But, please, don’t publish it in your blog that shows up in my reader every. single. day.  I don’t usually give advice, but here it is anyway.  Keep the “reality TV show” mantra in mind; real people don’t have Exciting, Recordable lives.  However, with a little editing and a phat lead actor, fans will come back, over and over again.

What have I taken away from this experience? I think I discovered the reason I don’t blog all that often, and it’s not that I’m “too busy,” which is my usual rationalization.  I don’t have anything to blog about.  At least, not every day.  Not even every week.  Hell, I’ve had entire years of my life that are basically disinteresting to anyone but myself.  And I’ve spared you from those!  Don’t I deserve the same???

Rest assured.  I’m not done blogging.  (oh yeah, I forgot; I also hate people that express their opposition to technology via technology).  When I do have something to say, and I’ve thought about it long enough to say it eloquently, or at least graciously, then I’ll be back, unless it’s good enough to go here or here, or stupid enough to go here.  Until then, I’ll obsessively write daily lists about my boring fucking day-to-day life in which I focus on my daily inability to meet daily goals and I’ll post them every single day.  Okay by you, {Google} Reader?