Last year I linked to Tom Critchlow talking about increasing the surface area of blogging. I remarked:
"Creating a larger surface area allows for more scope, more references, more links, more connections – with some work and a bit of luck that leads to more ideas"
/start, /reader, on this day, it was all designed to make things more accessible to myself as much as to others. As I struggle to work out exactly what this is all for I think it can be a hinderance rather than help.
Removing the RSS feed from my micro.blog account has removed the only other means of distribution (beyond the RSS feed itself) and reduced the surface area of blogging. My overarching goal with my own CMS (and the WordPress theme before it) was simplicity – making it easier to post and manage. I achieved that but then made things more complicated with varying layers of presentation and obfuscation. Returning to that simpler ideal, I feel, is more likely to promote ideas. Rather than overthinking things I can just write and a reduced surface area takes away some of the self-inflicted pressure to 'build something'.
A blog doesn't have to be this complex thing, this great pronouncement, it should be primarily for the audience of one. Getting back to basics (for a while at least) can only be good for me.
