Five hundred

Five hundred -- and still going...
Five hundred -- and going strong!
Five hundred -- and wondering if it's time to ramp it down.

I thought of all three of those as a potential headline for this post because this one here marks No. 500 since I started Rough and Rede on 3-1-09. Looking back, I see that exactly one year ago today -- on 2-1-10 -- I noted the 11-month anniversary of my blog and the 260 posts I'd written. I must have slowed down a bit because it took 12 months to write the next 240 -- a rate of exactly 20 per month or two every three days. Not bad, I suppose.

But as the odometer hits No. 500, I have to ask myself if I want to keep going. It takes time and discipline, a fair amount of creativity and, yes, at least some ego.

When I began, it was so I'd be able to point to my own example as I prepared to teach a class on the blogosphere at Portland State University. Unlike so many bloggers who got started earlier or who've come along since I began, I've never been motivated by a great yearning to broadcast my views and voice into cyberspace. There's a lot of self-promotion that goes into having a widely read blog and that goes against my nature, probably to my detriment.

So, I've been content for the most part to write about whatever strikes my fancy, knowing that any eyeballs on the site mostly belong to friends (both old and new) and a few family members. Of course, I've loved the feedback, sporadic though it may be. Every once in a while, there's enough of a critical mass to call it a conversation and that's really sweet. Other times, I realize it's me talking to myself. But that isn't so bad. Writing helps clarify what I value and what I believe. Plus, at some point, I'll take my friend Aki's advice and convert these first two years (er, 23 months) of posts to a bound print volume.

No doubt I'll keep writing for at least a while longer. There are still a few things I think are worth sharing, be they family matters or highlights from a couple of books on blogging and the economics of the news media. For those of you who've kind enough to drop in regularly or even just every now and then, I offer my thanks and gratitude.

Image: www.pinartarhan.com