MDR TB: self-fulfilling prophecy
←[90] Probably my largest concern over the “burnout” epidemic is what really constitutes the status of “burnout”. I usually take it as “I can’t think of anything to write.”[1] It seems though that this sputtering creativity can be caused by harsh constrictions.[2] I can’t speak for the limitations each blogger imposes upon him or herself, though I can say that there’s always going to be hype and horror for the godly and golden panoptic signal-to-noise ratio.
There are times when signal-to-noise is easily definable. There are other times when discerning “signal” vis-à-vis “noise” proves more difficult – drm’s words need reinvestigation[3]:
Unfortunately, the otakucube is considered counterculture, and thus, cannot suffer from a low signal-to-noise ratio. (COUNTERCULTURE = BAD) A low signal-to-noise ratio hurts counterculture movements by depicting the movement as disorganized and fractured.
I kind of have no idea what the otakusphere is: we can’t possibly fall back on homogenizing statements, there sphere is too diverse. Non-contextual references to “non-related posts” are awfully ambiguous: would “non-related” be like Mike talking about soap? Insubstantial introductory posts? Vacation messages? Birthday posts? Incessant meta defecation? Perhaps you would call them “non-related” or even “filler” insofar as anime is what an “anime blogger” ought to write and what ought to take up the majority of visible blogging space available.
There are two options here. The first is to go get a personal reader or learn how to use yahoo pipes to construct your filtered feeds.[4]
The second is to rethink your notion of the ’sphere. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sub/counter/proto/bukkake-centric culture – many social movements become fractured precisely because they’re too caught up in homogenization and absolutism to realize that inconsistency and variation are powerful sources upon which to build cohesion and stability.
But we already have that.
It’s when j1mon3 blogrolls Animanachronism, when we capitalize on variation, when we go absolutely batshit and run rampant around the place, when we write about ourselves. The ’sphere will surely meet its demise when it thinks that there is a finalized, immutable definition of “signal-to-noise” and when that definition or concept is utilized to represent ourselves as “disorganized and fractured”; you’re only tightening your own noose.
With that out of the way, here’s a reiteration of a few remedies (or vaccinations) for burnout disease.
1.) Join a team blog that encourages diversity, or, rather, doesn’t care at all what you write.[5] Joining a team blog (a) saves you the trouble of starting your own, (b) gives you an instantaneous readership, both of the host blog and your own dedicated entourage, (c) creates more traffic between your home blog and team blog positions, which can possibly (d) establish a larger readership at both blogs.
2.) Keep a j-culture based diary. It doesn’t have to be digital.
3.) Try to write outside your comfort zone.
4.) Collaborate with other bloggers. Initiate projects. Collectively talk about stuff.
5.) Diversify and expand your reading. Start sharing. Sweep up the sphere, read other notes.
6.) Think of your own solutions, introspect, etc.[6]
[1] Obviously this differs from a formal hiatus (JLPT, etc.) – let’s start calling it a sabbatical!
[2] Martin said a reason he was ambivalent towards making a new blog was that his audience would have to update their readers. Seriously, is it that hard?
[3] I took the biat, it was delicious.
[4] You can filter words for “meta”, “hiatus”, or shit, even “lelangir”
[5] Yukan hands out authorship positions like Citigroup passes out pink slips.
[6] MDR TB: multi-drug resistant tuberculosis 22 comments
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Talk about irony
I think this is precisely the issue… what is our standards in the community? Do what we want, when we feel like it … that’s great, but how does that make it any different than live journal? lol
We don’t need order, but we need some seriously awesome PR and content proxy.
Yes, it is that hard for readers to update feed readers. Many will, and many won’t.
Hmm… I don’t blog much because I’m lazy, not because I’m burned out (burnt out?). This whole feed sharing thing would probably help me though. I’m starting to realize I hate reading anime blogs because so many of their posts ramble, use vocabulary I don’t understand, bore me, or lose my interest immediately because they don’t get straight to the point.
RyanA: “Order” is a tricky word…do you mean uniformity in content – vertical growth? Maybe I’m misconstruing, but I think order will help develop the sphere, it’s homogeneity we should avoid. “Order”, IMHO, seems manifested in solidarity, in collaboration etc. I like that kind of order – we can have “order” in chaos, in variation, in heterogeneity; the ’sphere has the capacity to be ordered madness. Nano is a good example of that (despite its alleged noise).
Icy: That sucks. Really.
Sometimes I have a hard time churning out posts since my attention is elsewhere (schoolwork…), and usually its those posts that really seem like schoolwork which are hard to produce (only have so much mental stamina). I think a lot of the strategies people have listed are very effective ways to counter or prevent burnout.
If you don’t like posts that ramble, that is precisely why you should read GR shared notes (or more of Author).
I think you have my email, add me to shared items. lelangir[@]gmail[.]com
Burnout ehh? Here’s some advice to calm you down. Just stop watching TV and anime, stop using your PC or Cellphone, stop blogging and… just stop everything that’s making your life very busy. Then take a nice warm bubble bath, eat your favorite ice cream and go take a very long nap.
Hope this helps.
lelangir, it’s not just that though… I mean, there’s a reason why I read this: http://www.riuva.com/?p=1028 (my God, that was nearly 9 months ago… anyway), and there’s a reason why I won’t read this: http://superfani.com/?p=1986
That’s the best I can explain it @_@ And it’s not simply the subject matter either (so ignore my love for True Tears and Noe).
lelangir: by order I mean like that of fluid functionality … not in the sense of sameness and conformity, but order like the components of a moving machine … all accomplishing various things, but ultimately do something greater.
Also, IcyStorm, its perfectly normal to not want to read meta-posts … they are 1) not entertaining 2) not about media, but methodology and people 3) usually tl;dr … they are more like reading memos at work than articles in a magazine
In other words: read team blogs, get out of the room, read more books, lurk moar in 4chan, drink coke, and learn a new language!
Ah, but how do you treat Extensively Drug-Resistant TB?
What timing! I had just prepared a new post due in a few hours. I wonder if it meets the criteria mentioned/linked-to here, or is it closer to “Mike writing about soap”.
I also am worried as I approach the end of the year, the topics I find as “low-hanging fruit” (read: easy to write) are picked clean already (by me). Posting good material (by my own personal standards) will now take more time and effort, and I have the same 24 hours as everyone else though the things I need to do outside of blogging multiply.
It’s much too soon for me to think hiatus, but the seed in my mind has been planted. In the mean time, 2 posts a week now seems a good goal.
haha Gmail is awesome.
Sorry that was totally off-topic. Kinda…
I don’t think I ever have nothing to talk about because I just ramble. I can always ramble about something. It’s more often the fact that I forget to ramble about certain things that I then finish the post. And I usually stick to about 1-2 posts per week, and most of the time, something interesting happens within that time to talk about. But yeah, I think that you’re never really “burnt out”, but you convince yourself you are. You may even have something to write, but you don’t think it’ll be that interesting to read. For me, I’d write it anyway because I’m more about writing what I find interesting than catering to a certain base. And I think, writing-wise, being weirder and kinda random can end up really cool lol
[...] read blogging tips. [...]
karin lover: just remember to brush your teeth after ice cream…
icy: yeah, twitter etc. etc.
ryan: hmmmmm, we’d have to discuss this further, and I think Nano/Antennae are particularly good examples of what you’re talking about…or at least what I’m construing.
sojourner: if that’s your cup of tea
eirias: vaccination? BigN is the doctor..
ghost: I rarely focus specifically on anime. I just don’t like talking about in such a “narrow” fashion. I’m really into talking about “the space between animes”, if you know what I mean.
shiva: that’s good, if you write for you and no one else, that’s good. I do tend to write for the audience a lot, kinda…it’s weird.
>>”the space between anime”"
LOL. Love it. That’s probably why your posts bait me into issuing long-ass reaction posts (even if they’re not direct responses).
LELANGIR
Y U WRITE FOR IMPZ.
I say old chap that this madness of mine is quite conductive to finding something to write about, perhaps sanity is overrated?
[...] SO MUCH HIATUS: It is really sad to see so may good people dropping out, really. Good writers are hard to find nowadays. And all we got left, well, are people who could bluff their way in real life as being nice people, but are probably so rotted inside, it makes that one Roman emperor’s extremely gruesome death by worms and malaise seem like a bad horror gore flick by comparison. I guess some people were right when they said the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. (NOTE HERE: I do not hiatus. I blog whenever and when I like or find time. SO THERE.) [...]
Like bull and bear markets, the subject of anibloggers getting burned out comes around in cycles. Some clumps are larger than others but each subsequent instance within a particular clump increasingly makes me want to yell at the lot of ‘em to stop bitching and get creative. They cared enough to tell their readers about their lack of motivation so they must possess some smidgen of writing ability. One way of remedying “writer’s block” is to do less filtering and look at what sticks out from the mess of thoughts.
BTW, I need to get around to sharing links on GR and not just starring articles for my own purposes…maybe this week.
Drug combos, man. Toxic last resort drug combos.
For me, it has helped that I’ve been planning posts or set myself up for posts that I can do for the time being (like finally finish the HidaSketch x365 posts now that everything’s been subbed), but other than that, I just write what comes to me. And while I spend time looking for something to stimulate me to write, it also helps not to worry about it so much, as something can randomly pop up in your mind (like my recent Toradora post coming from one sentence in my head while watching it). And when something does come in your head, try and write it down for the future, just in case. It’s pretty general stuffs though.
drm: ? – don’t answer that
crusader: I guess sanity is overrated…I don’t even know if I’m sane…probably not.
calaggie: I was originally going to say “self-imposed constrictions” but that’s too harsh. Martin did indicate he felt obliged by some invisible pressure to live up to the status-quo he established for himself. I think the reader owes much more to the author than vice versa. Thinking otherwise does indicate quite clearly how blogging is for the audience, a social mechanism more so than a personal one. Though it’s not a bad thing, it’s just two different motivations for blogging.
N: Drugs? Lol, when I finished x365, I was like “Ok, how long do I have to wait before N writes a final post?” I was gonna write one on episodes 12-13 but that show is wayyyyy too hard to blog (for me). Maybe I can try later? – Hidamari Sketch is a really fun show to watch in general. I’ll always have a few episodes saved on my HD.
It’s hard for me to write substantial posts out of one-sentence-spontenaiety. Usually I try to amass “data” (GR shared notes is a god send in this aspect) and then piece it all together. This post was in that vein, also, ’cause I like Way Too Many Trackbacks.
You’re definitely right about keeping notes….though I always hate taking notes when watching educational movies in class. I was trying to take notes on Shigofumi 01, but I forgot….I’ll have to resort to taking notes On Pen and Paper! *gasp* and then transcribing to the internet. Oh how tech savvy…
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