Timely or timeless: the blogger’s conundrum

Posted on October 20, 2008
Filed Under All, Politics, Taking Faith, Weblogging |

Gym-mate, theologian Daniel Clenendin and I chatted while pounding two of the Palo Alto Y’s treadmills this morning. Daniel wanted to write an essay this week that took into account the choices we face in the upcoming election. He bemoaned a weekly publishing schedule that meant his essay might not seem timely once the election results were known. I countered that he could always cite timeless truths: he laughed at this, the blogger’s conundrum - be timely or be timeless.

I think that’s true: bloggers always seek to be timely, but little we write is destined to be timeless. At our best, perhaps we find, in the moment, a morsel that will reverberate with future readers, but those are special moments, when the muse and events coalesce. Mostly, we just hammer out the copy, driven by our blog’s otherwise-glaring ‘missing’ days or weeks…

Comments

3 Responses to “Timely or timeless: the blogger’s conundrum”

Anonymous on October 21st, 2008 9:13 am

Let’s guess the title of this Palo Alto executive’s political essay. Maybe “change you can count on?”
Anonymous on October 21st, 2008 2:37 pm

Less talk, more treadmill. Conversation at Peet’s, hard work at the gym…
cg on October 21st, 2008 7:29 pm

Executive? Mais, non! Daniel is a theologian…

Treadmill: hey, I’m walking at a ‘land speed record’ for hemiparetic moi - a blistering 2.5 mph. But I like Peet’s, too…