Previous related posts: The four-year itch; Puppetry in Australia – does it exist? (PS. If you read my site via RSS and got confused at yesterday’s post: the RSS doesn’t include the pagination links, so if you only read the first page and thought there was something missing, please head to my site to read the complete thing. This will likely occur on this post and others, so I’ll add a short note at the end of page one - if there is one - about pagination)

Getting back to the issue of where this site is going, I need to go backwards a bit to the four-year itch post. Only because some comments were left there and they are an integral part of discussing the plans.

Rob left what amounts to the entire impetus behind this week’s (rather large) saga of my plans. I don’t know what it was, but the comments kicked my brain into gear. (Thanks Rob!  Also, apologies, I’m going to reply in more detail here than in my email to you, because it’s important to the way forward) The comments were added a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve needed that time to mull over my response; as well as how it affected my ideas.

First, I need to state that the break from constant coding and web design has given me the opportunity to think. In fact, having finished the site and now waiting for launch, I feel as if I’ve woken from a very heavy dream or coma. I see now how much I’ve been neglecting other tasks, been walking around with blinders on, and have become so far behind in my own projects. I think this is part of the reason I wrote about the four-year itch; it’s not so much getting bored or restless, or even frustrated. It’s about the fact that for a year, being frustrated over web design it bled into other areas of what I’ve been doing. I think perhaps the burn-out was more to do with crappy code and Joomla than about burning out on my own site.

…So, here’s my reply to Rob:

First reaction to this post was… “Oh please dont stop PIM, its such an extensive resource, and I love the Aussie context because no one else downunder seems to be dishing out local info on puppet supplies, groups, etc". Anyway, you get the idea - I love what you are doing!

Ignoring for the moment that I’m extremely flattered by the compliments, this is actually an integral part of why I continue posting. As with my original theatre publication, The Prompt Copy, I was always doing it for other people, rather than myself. (Although apparently I do love to hear myself talk given the length of these posts sometimes ) The Aussie content is extremely niche, but that’s what makes the site popular, and a good business opportunity. They say in business you should find a niche and fill it: I guess I found mine. Plus, I genuinely enjoy reading about Aussie stuff too, so I’m writing as much for myself in this case than anyone else.

Then I thought about the 4-yr itch thing - I dont know if there is a strict timing to this sort of feeling, but I’d say we all have found this in diff parts of our life - we all understand how the ‘fire’ can go out. Its not that enthusiasm has waned (in fact thats often the main driver for anything happening at all), its the grind without reward that makes it hard to sustain - note reward doesnt have to be financial, but it helps.

I thought a couple of days ago about my reaction to stopping The Prompt Copy after four years of doing it. I didn’t regret it. In fact, I like to think I stopped and never thought about it again; except in rare occasions when comparing now to back then, or in remembering what I was doing a few years ago. The reason I didn’t miss doing it was for the most part, because I really wasn’t doing it for myself. (Those who don’t know the story: I started it as a favour to a friend who wanted me to copy them info on acting jobs I saw that they might be interested in) Despite the growth of the readership, and the slight changes in format (doc-pdf-website), I never really managed to develop the publication in other ways (ie. reviews, feature articles, etc.) and the effort to keep up with something that never really filled me with interest in the first place was too much to handle. I knew I had burned out at about the two-year mark, but kept going because I knew the concept was worthy – this was pre-audition sites too.

Compare this with now: the site has not been a development of anyone else’s impetuses (despite some google keyword ‘spamming’ in writing new content), but a natural growth out of my own opinions, adventures, and feelings. Even when I am sick and tired of posting stuff I find myself coming back and writing again on topics that inspire me or frustrate me, or simply to share what I’ve done.

In this sense, I don’t think it’s possible to just ‘stop’ what I’m doing. Although, in some ways, I can take or leave puppetry (my first and only true love is ‘plain’ theatre, working as a techie), I don’t think it’s possible to extricate myself from my own blog. It is after all, my own blog, which means I have much greater editorial control and freedom to do what I like with it. (As compared to The Prompt Copy where the readership expected a certain type of info, such as auditions. I couldn’t give a crap about writing about auditions, or celebrity news, or the latest tool for lighting desks)

In addition, I was working full-time at Arts Hub and doing The Prompt Copy, making twice as much arts journalism for practically no reward. Whereas now, despite having just as many projects (probably more) going on, I can focus my attention completely on this rather than this, that and the other. – I like to split my day up into threes. A little time on emails and general admin; a little time to build something; and a little time to chill out. (And one could say, quite a lot of time to try and sleep )

So no, Rob, you won’t be seeing the site disappear anytime soon  Which isn’t to say it won’t be changing either… In fact, the changes are necessary to ensure that I don’t burn out.

In terms of reward: that indeed is perhaps the hardest part. It’s incredibly rewarding to watch my stats grow from a pitiful 50 hits per day (back in 2007 I would imagine), to the ridiculous stats I got last month (24 033 page loads, 9 956 unique visitors, 324 returning visitors), particularly in light of just how niche the content really is. However, contrast this with the dwindling income, lack of job prospects, and tendency to ‘waste’ time on impulse projects… well, balancing reward with reality is the trickiest part of my life.

End first page.

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3