I’m a Schizophrenic Blogger and So Am I

I do lots of blogging. I’ve been doing it since 1998, though as many have noticed, the way I blog has changed a lot since then. While I used to be a lot more introspective (often to the point of absurdity–you can’t imagine how much I confused my mother), my entries of late have been a lot more news oriented. Links, news, quotes. Bite-size candy. I still like to be introspective now and then, but nearly as often.

In total, I have access to at least 18 different blogs in varying states of activity. Most of them have been shuttered, thankfully, and several of them are blogs I’m paid to work on, but many of them continue on as solely my creations. Frankly, I think I’m becoming a schizophrenic blogger.


This is my original blog. It has my introspecitve thoughts, my rants, some creative writing, some links, some news, and lots of other random stuff. Then there’s my quotes blog. My links blog (there’s a state of inactivity). My reviews blog. My dog’s blog. I recently added my first novel blog. And there’s my business blog (which really causes a lot of schizophrenic problems). Oh, and there’s my portfolio blog (which is one of the few that’s working the way it’s supposed to). Recently I started feeding all these blogs onto the home page of this blog so I wouldn’t feel the need to double post. I think it annoys some people.

There’s also the blogs I’ve thought about starting: A Saint Paul blog. A youth group/church blog. A serial writing blog. A teen blog.

Frankly, I’m having trouble keeping everything straight. It started as a way to treat each type of content individually, thus quotes could be easily categorized and not lost in all the other junk. I could write about my novel in one place and have an updated site. I could start a library of reviews and sort them alphabetically.

But it’s becoming bizarre. I blog about a news item on Monkey Outta Nowhere. It’s business related, so I blog about it on a marketing site I write for. There’s a church connection, so I talk about it on Church Marketing Sucks. I want to go off on it in a way that could potentially offend business clients, so I do it right here on my personal blog. Then I pull a quote from the article for my quotes blog and write a review of the book for my review blog. How many times can you say the same thing?

While my novel blog isn’t working the way I want it to, I have thought about starting a serial blog with some friends (sort of gathering to share stories that are written as we go along). It seemed like a creative writing central sort of place, and it makes me wonder if I should have a sort of creative writing blog to go along with it. Perhaps I could shutter the novel blog and just go for a creative writing blog.

I’m also wondering if I should dump the business blog and go with a homepage pulling RSS feeds from various sources I write for–accomplishing the goal of having an updated homepage, but not trying to run yet another blog. I could keep the business blog itself but use it strictly for Monkey Outta Nowhere updates, making the whole thing less a source itself and more a platform for the business (which would probably be more beneficial–I can’t say the business blog has brought in more business).

I also find myself annoyed with some of the blogs. I love the idea of a review blog, but it always falls months behind. I think I’m annoyed at the limitations. I love how Jason Kottke gives movies a rating and then lets you sort by that rating. I also feel like my reviews should be the last word, when really I should just dash something off. Jaime knows how to do it.

I find myself wanting a better, cooler, hipper blog. I love my pictures across the top, though they are stark and grey. Where’s the color? I love how Nick does his. Am I bound to pine for the next cool thing and never be happy with what I have?

I recently asked people what they thought of my blog, more for the joy of letting everyone else be funny instead of me (and I discovered y’all are much funnier than I am) and some of the answers made me wish this blog could be what I want it to be. I’m not sure what that actually is, but rambling about it helps.

What kind of a name is “Thoughts” anyway? It started as Daily Ponderings, became ReAL Thoughts (when it was hosted on ReALMagazine.com), and has now just become Thoughts. What a lame name.

Since I have aspirations of being a published author some day (you could argue I’m there already), I wonder about what kind of writer web site I should have (Is that incredibly conceited? It sure feels like it). At that point it seems silly to keep everything under the guise of Monkey Outta Nowhere. At some point I wonder if I should just get a url with my name in it. I hate the idea of my business being my name (Hendricks Writing LLC, Kevin Hendricks Writing LLC, I’m A Dork Who Works At Home LLC?), which is why I chose Monkey Outta Nowhere, but if you’re going to be a published writer it almost makes sense to have a url closely tied to your name. In which case do I end up with a business site (Monkey Outta Nowhere) and an author site (Kevin Hendricks Something), with the author site being where I keep this personal blog? It’s really a question of audience, too. Monkey Outta Nowhere has more of a Christian audience, as goofy as that sounds, simply because I work for a lot of Christian organizations. I’m less eager for my personal blog and my author web presence to be so tied to the Christian world–not because I don’t talk about my faith (I do), but my writings aren’t always welcomed with open arms in the Christian world (I used the f-word about six times in my first novel).

And perhaps I’m just overthinking everything (as I tend to do).

I feel a change coming, though I’m not sure what it is just yet. Perhaps it’s time to reclaim my scattered identity.

3 thoughts on “I’m a Schizophrenic Blogger and So Am I”

  1. I totally understand exactly where you’re coming from, man. I’m constantly re-evaluating the purpose of the sites I work on and help to create, and I’m always thinking of ideas of how I could combine them or contrast them or add certain features that would make them more interesting.

    You ask, “Am I bound to pine for the next cool thing and never be happy with what I have?” Well, yes. Isn’t that human nature? What kind of a web developer would you be if you made your site once and never changed it? A bad one, that’s what kind! :-) A constantly-changing site is, in my opinion, a mark of a creator who is truly in love with the process of creation and wants to continue creating simply to try to find fresh ideas in all the static, and to enjoy the process.

    Don’t get discouraged! Whatever you do, we’ll still all be here, because we like you. You’re what brought us here in the first place. You’re what keeps us coming back.

  2. Kevin,

    You’re obviously farther down the path than I am (and you’ve helped me get as far as I’ve gotten myself, thus far), so you’ve got more blogs to deal with that I do already. But I’m starting to deal with the same issues. I have a personal blog (knightopia.com/journal/) and a pre-evangelistic (“bridge strategy”) reality TV blog (RealityBlogs.com). Now I’m starting a local/humor blog (gastoncountyspectator.blogspot.com). And I’m interested in exploring podcasting and/or videoblogging sometime in the future, as well. Will those be separate blogs? Or just different content for one of my existing blogs? So far I’m looking at the separate blogs as opportunities to write distinctly different types of content and exlore different styles of writing. Your blogs are, as you’ve explained, perhaps a little more intertwined than mine are, so you’re struggling with it more. Perhaps you need to explore creating more distinctly different “voices” for each of your blogs, to explore different aspects of who you are and what you’re interested in? Just an idea …

    LOL,
    Steve K.

  3. I feel your pain. Really I do. It’s almost *too* easy to set-up new blogs/sites these days. The other night I went from no site to a fully functioning blog with a custom header in 60 minutes flat, and that includes setting up a hosting account.

    Portfolio:
    http://nickciske.com/

    Personal Blog:
    http://nickciske.com/blog/

    Podcasts/Blogs:
    http://thoughtrefinery.com/
    http://creativechutrch.com/

    Work sites:
    http://bethanypress.com/
    http://bethanyinternational.org/
    http://bcom.org/

    Paying for hosting, unused:
    http://altworshipwiki.org/

    I just let one big idea/site fade away when the hosting ran ran out, which was really hard even though I hadn’t even touched the site in 6 months.

    Not to mention a bunch of domains I still pay $10 a year for because *someday* I’m going to use them. As if I need more web sites!

    Good luck re-organizing your digital world. Let me know how it goes ;-)

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