I’ve started writing a lot away from the computer entirely, just with pen and paper. There is definitely a volume of words, but you’re going to lose that sense of concern with … “oh, have I updated lately?” Well, maybe there’s nothing to say yet. It’ll be done when it’s done.

There are so many distractions on the ‘net, that writing tends to be communicationally-oriented (ie, IMs and IRC and quick emails), as opposed to any coherent, organized thoughts that would actually be useful to read. Think of what you seek out on the ‘net to read for yourself. One looks for source materials, the real “meaty” stuff that took awhile to write, and was probably done in relative isolation. Maybe it was *inspired* by current events, but you’ve gotta disengage from the news sources and people’s opinions if you’re gonna come up with something that’s actually worth people’s time to read.

It’s probably why so many bloggers either give up entirely (so many empty things on my aggregator), or why the rest are stressed out to the point of health issues. One is boring and the other is, well, unhealthy.