Last Sunday, Charles Knight at AltSearch Engines put up a post describing the life of a blogger from a male perspective; this is my reply. It also appeared on his site today. I encourage you to read his post first!

If I weren?t already a blogger, I certainly wouldn?t be enticed to become one after reading Charles? piece Mamma don?t let your babies grow up to be bloggers. In it, he paints a picture of a life in which he doesn?t sleep, deals with emails on a 24-hour basis, has a numb arm from excessive mouse usage? I?m not going to go on.

Before we even begin, you guys need to know that this is an unfair debate. Charles is a full-time blogger; I?m not. I also make very conscious lifestyle choices, and I have no controlled method of experimentation to know whether or not it?s possible to be a ?successful blogger? without sacrificing those choices.

What I can do is tell you my experience of blogging, and why I wouldn?t trade it for anything.

Subject Matter
I blog for VortexDNA, which means that I?m representing the company when I write. When I first started, I did a lot of tiptoeing: I made sure that pretty much every post tied back into the VortexDNA technology in some way, and I was careful to remain very neutral in my language and topic choices.

Fortunately, the guys at VortexDNA have enough vision to know that I needed to be a bit less cautious—a bit more free—if I wanted to create a compelling blog. With their guidance and support, I felt confident to explore topics that I found intriguing or moving, even if they didn?t have any direct connection to the company?s activity.

Right now, I meet with them every two weeks or so (with travel lately it?s been more like once a month), and we discuss broad objectives and general messages. Other than that, they give me free rein to be myself and write what I wish.

We?re able to get away with this arrangement because we?ve established that we?re fundamentally on the same page: we care deeply about enabling people to reach their potential and contributing to the world in a positive way. This knowledge allows them to feel confident I?m not going to say anything that goes against their deepest values.

Because it?s a company blog, I do abide by some self-imposed rules: I stay away from politics, sex, and religion, and if I?m revealing any company information I run it by them to make sure it?s okay. Other than that, I find that I?m tremendously gratified by the freedom I have to express myself and comment on topics that I feel strongly about. It?s the difference between being a reporter and an op-ed columnist. A reporter has to tell the story regardless of personal beliefs. Op-ed columnists, on the other hand, get to be as genuine as they want, because that?s what people tune in for.

Lifestyle
I can understand the temptation to let a blog take over your life, and I?ve certainly succumbed to the odd midnight email-check. But one of the things I love about blogging is the flexibility it gives me to create whatever lifestyle I want. I don?t have the 24-hour-a-day pressure that Charles does because our blogs serve two different purposes. If a new search engine surfaces somewhere, he has to be the first to know about it, but nobody comes to my blog for breaking news.

I check my email as soon as I wake up, but I shower and dress before I start my day for real. Otherwise I find that I have trouble getting my head into it. Luckily, my cramped desk area doesn?t give me room for food, so I stop to eat lunch in a civilized manner.

Sorry Charles, but I always make time for my partner. I stop to say hello and goodbye properly. He and I have dinner together almost every night. We spend time together on the weekends. And I can say without a moment?s hesitation that if I ever had to choose between my blog and my relationship, he would win. Fortunately, I don?t think I?ll ever have to make that choice.

Blogging also allows me to connect with my family more. Those of you who read my blog will know that I was in New York a couple of weeks ago. What you don?t know is that I went there to help my mother with a business issue she was having. I decided to make the trip on Sunday and got on the plane on Monday at 7AM. I had a day of downtime on the way there and on the way back, but otherwise I was able to throw my laptop in a bag and continue business as usual. Show me another job that gives you that kind of freedom.

I live in beautiful New Zealand and spend my weekends gardening, rock climbing, kayaking and mountain biking—poor me!

Charles and I both love blogging, but it?s obvious that we have different approaches to it. I suspect that there may be a blogger or two reading this—what?s your experience? We?d love to hear from you about your blogging lifestyle; let us know in the comments!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 10:48 am and is filed under People matter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.