The Content Conundrum

The Content Conundrum

For most of my life, I have been a fairly singularly faceted guy when it came to creation. I wrote. Poetry at first. Short stories later. And finally, in 2004 I turned to blogging. Since then, writing short form on the internet has been my primary creative outlet. This has been, what I would call, a pretty successful creative tenure. I am proud to say that I have published some of my best work. Everything changed, however, last november when I started co hosting The What’s Up Next Podcast. All of the sudden my creative endeavors split. Thus I entered the content conundrum.

A sort of no man’s land where I had burgeoning endeavors each vying for my limited attention. Which would win out?

A Soul Divided

I guess I am not a multitasker. When it comes to art and not science, I find I am best at funneling my energies into a single task. For all of these years, it has been a medical and then financial blog. And in many ways, writing really inhabited my thoughts and dreams. It was the thought I woke up with, and the wispy yearning of my less wakeful hours.

It consumed me. For years.

Then podcasting came along. A whole different and unique art form. Instead of contemplating the juxtaposition of words on paper, I was trying to combine sentences, and paragraphs, and diverse viewpoints, and luxurious audio.

I was no longer in my head, but out in the world among people. Having real two way conversations that had resonance. Combining with others to form a whole that was greater than its individual parts.

The content conundrum was growing.

First Love

It would have been silly to think that podcasting wouldn’t affect my blog writing. How could it not? When diving into a new passion, how does one not ignore old flames? Sometimes one fire has to be consumed to create materials for the next.

It’s like abandoning my first love. An arduous process for sure, but something that must be done in the name of progress.

Mind you, I am not planning on stopping this blog anytime soon (or anytime at all). But it would be lying to say that things haven’t changed. The content conundrum is having an affect on my writing. Whether good or bad, it’s real.

Future Plans

I plan to continue to write here daily. And maybe you won’t even notice any difference. But I do. I feel the pull of the podcast in everything I do.

The crux of the content conundrum is that passion and dreams divided make poor flames for the fire. I am not talking about financial independence here!

This blog will continue to be my experimental lab of daily ideas, thoughts, and discussions. My daily meditation that provides a window into the jumbled thoughts and feelings that flit through my mind.

And the podcast, well, that will be there to. It will be where I splay blood and guts out on the table.

It will be where I soar.