Re-thinking Blogging
I haven’t written on this site for a couple weeks, the longest I have ever gone without posting. My last post, which I removed, was about The Future of Climbing. I wrote it with the intent of creating a discussion about how the climbing industry structure could change and how crag access and other climbing issues could be addressed through climbing professionals. I was amazed at the response of this post. I received numerous positive emails and twitter posts, but also received a good handful of negative blog comments. Negative blog comments always surprise me because in my 5+ years of blog reading I have never had a need or desire to personally attack someone on their own site.
The negative comments made me realize that perhaps I had written the post incorrectly or in a format where my true tone didn’t come across. I was honestly trying to create a discussion, but had posed my thoughts in questions which could have been taking as finger pointing. I realize this now.
I considered re-posting my entry, but have decided against it because I realized that perhaps I don’t need to create these discussions. I also realized through this post that perhaps I don’t want to spend so much time talking about climbing.
I have been writing this blog for 2 years (no, I did NOT start it when I went on my road trip.) I started this site because I work as an analyst for a venture capital firm, with my industry of focus being online technologies. In order to understand these technologies, I must use them. I started the Wasatch Girl blog, but was struggling at first to find my online voice. So I started the Cragbaby blog with the hopes that talking about my hobby, climbing, would be a catalyst for my business posts. This technique truly worked and I continued to write on this site for the sole reason that people seemed to enjoy stopping by. =)
With the response to my last post though, I finally realized that my time would be better spent focusing on the Wasatch Girl and my career, rather than the Crag Baby and my hobby. I think climbing for me is meant to be simply enjoyed. Climbing will never be my life nor do I want to work in the outdoor industry, so I am going to focus on just loving the act of climbing rather than talking about it.
Working the moves on Devoted. Buttermilks, Bishop. (Photo by Dan Brayack).
I plan on continuing to post on this site, but with less frequency. I want the few posts I do upload to be content focused with information that might be useful to you readers. I will still post the occasional photos of my recent destination stops, but want to focus more on trip beta write-ups (like this Rock Town post which many of you readers have emailed and mentioned was useful), problem suggestions for each area and how-to posts on road tripping (for instance this post on Living the Nomadic Life). I might continue to post my gratitude lists on this site, but think I will move my thoughts on volunteering to the Wasatch Girl.
Hope you readers are well.
Best.
Rachel