From October 7th – In preparation for the launch of this blog:
I have been thinking about this for over 10 years because there is a lot to consider. I have not started it yet and am not starting it now because I still need more information, but I have resolved enough of my concerns to know that I am going to start a blog.
Considerations:
I am a writer. For a long while I was hung up on putting my product ‘out there’ for free. Three elements have eased me over that hump.
1: The immense success of the two-fold Scott Sigler podcast novel publishing model – give it away for free and be able to demonstrate to traditional publishers that you have a following of size X – and also self publish limited runs but only after half your target run has been pre-ordered guaranteeing that your personal costs are covered.
2: The ‘new’ Creative Commons relatively easy copyright formula. (I probably should have figured out how to trademark that use of ‘Creative Commons’…)
3: The success of other writers who have used blogging as a means of honing their craft and transmuted their free blogs into product. I don’t really care about ‘product’ in the strict marketing sense, but I have had people steal my words for their benefit before we even really had the net – and I would like to make money because not having any and living in your parents’ basement is – less than ideal.
It is both hard for me and uninteresting to me to tell incomplete tales. I tell pretty long stories. I don’t have short answers to questions, and I really like to explain why and how it is that I have come to certain conclusions.
1: One of my overseas 18 month adventures needs to be told and has fascinating stuff in it. I was on that adventure to Doha, Qatar for my family company, Renfroe Associates International. Some of the things that happened, my reactions, and my feelings about all of it pose complications. The core of RAI is me and my Dad. I have to consider how anything I say about that may impact our current and future business, our relationship with certain companies and individuals (and maybe countries and governments) and it is possible that some of it could be classified. The tales from Doha will largely just not enter into the blog. One day, when we are all more financially secure – I will put it out there. Hopefully that will be sooner than later, but who knows.
2: Another overseas adventure, my 18 months in India founding 3 companies, also really needs to be told. It is marvy! But there too we find complications, fewer than with RAI, but similar. I love my chief partner in India, RamKamal. There is less danger of saying anything that could have any negative impact on Ram or our companies, but I am currently searching for new contracts and very soon will re-enter the world of consulting/full-out working for someone else who is DC based. I am not embarrassed about any of the things I have done, even the embarrassing ones, and I am not afraid to share these stories, with one small caveat. I can’t tell them incompletely, and I have to recognize that what I write can impact whether or not I get interviewed. I don’t think that anyone at the top of any company, anyone else who is or has been a CEO or President or Big Kahuna or Whatever, would have a real problem with my take on business development, team building, operations management, marketing, and the real deal on how that does or doesn’t work (and the rest of what goes into building an organization), but they are not going to be deciding who gets the interview. That person may not have ever been in the position to understand the pressure and the kinds of decisions I had to make. Hopefully I can tell the India tale sooner than later, probably much sooner than the Doha adventure, but who knows.
I can tell you anything you want to know about Renfroe Tile as long as Mike, Steve, Matt, and Tony sign consent waivers and that would probably be pretty easy to acquire.
There are some of my book projects that will not come into it. I am not going to blog about my intense beef with what is happening in Epistemology or philosophy in general, or some of the other technical concepts like use/mention distinctions and other minutia. I probably won’t blog about “how to fix education at the collegiate level” – or “what’s wrong with universities”, because I am still trying to decide if I need this as my fall-back business. I’d rather give it away for free, but if I can’t get another job…
But that still leaves a whole bunch. I write constantly – but I do all of my writing in my head. Since I got out of college in 1998, I stopped putting it also onto paper or electrons. Since I have ceased to utilize an outlet for all this stuff it is cramming up my head and driving me a little nuts, so I am going to start giving it to internetica.
A few things I still have to research – Form and Function. I am pretty anal about most things, but most especially how information is organized. It should be easy to find whatever you are looking for really quickly. I am going to write about golf, and cooking, and running, and smoking/not smoking, and my family, and dogs, and hiking, and travel, and religion, and politics, and everything. I don’t want 15 blogs or even two. I want to do it all in one place. I could probably have figured out how to do it in the time it took me to write this (and read it 700 times), but then I couldn’t sleep because I would still be writing this in my head until I got up and typed it out. So research comes later. Good night…
