Over the last month and a half, I've found that keeping up with writing for Naval Gazing has been increasingly difficult. Some of this is simply down to recent life events which have given me other things to do with my time. Some is that I've been feeling burned out. I've been blogging here for almost two years, and at this point, Naval Gazing has basically taken over my time looking into naval matters.
So at this point, I've decided to cut back. Going forward, I'm going to publish two main posts a week, one on Sunday and one on Wednesday. The current Monday OT/RTW2 game is going to move to Friday (except for the next update, which will be tomorrow). I hope this rate will be more sustainable going forward.
Just to be clear, I'm in no danger of shutting Naval Gazing down completely. I really enjoy researching, writing, and interacting with the commenters here. But I'd like more time for other things, too.
Comments
Fully understand. This is a great site with excellent information. Please don’t don’t get so burned out that you stop blogging. Being in Oklahoma too I appreciate some of the local references. Thanks!
Enjoy your pursuits. Remember, that when children start arriving you enter yet another time/space continuum that will, pleasantly, carve up even more of your time so get to as many of those interests as you can.
Much better to reduce the volume and still enjoy it than push until you don't like it any more and then give up entirely.
But... but my free content?
Seriously, I have no idea how you manage to create as many thoroughly-researched posts as you do, so if you need to cut back I (and anyone else here) understand. If you did a post every other month I'd keep checking back every day like a depraved rat in a Skinner box.
I even have a suggestion for some low-effort content for the future: If you come across a thing you'd like to know more about that is out of your arena, or that you don't have the time or inclination to research yourself, just make a short question post and throw it out to the less dedicated sleuths in the comments. We are likely not going to present it as well, and will likely disagree at times, but I think it's the kind of thing that people who read this blog love to do. You could kind of look at as a crowd sourced guest column, where you get to learn along with us.
Thanks, all.
@Jason
Where in Oklahoma are you? I'd be interested in meeting up if we're ever in the same area.
@Chuck
That's not a bad idea. I may start with more of the history of riverine warfare, which is an area I ran into trouble on.
No worries! I'm frankly baffled at how you've been able to or or so much without being a full-time blogger, and I'll probably still feel that way with two posts a week.
As other commenters have said - slow down the pace as much as you need to for it to feel sustainable. One post per week would be more than enough to keep me checking the site - I follow blogs that post much less often than that.
The wealth of knowledge you’ve put together here is really impressive, and you should be proud of it.
If you ever decide to get on Patreon, or even open a PayPal so people can contribute to the cost of the books you use for research, count me as one of the first contributors!
@Alex
I second your motion of: "If you ever decide to get on Patreon, or even open a PayPal so people can contribute to the cost of the books you use for research, count me as one of the first contributors."
Good content is definately worth supporting.
I'm also in total agreement with the rest of the commenters: slow down as much as necessary to be sustainable; and favor quality over quantity. Many of my favorite blogs (such as Interfluidity) update far less often than Naval Gazing.
Regarding the proposal to have guest columns, I'm in favor... as long as everyone remembers that this blog is called Naval Gazing, not "milhist gazing" : ) I really appreciate the tight focus this blog has on ships and the sea (airliner posts notwithstanding) and I'd like to see that focus maintained.
Totally agree. Burned out will end the page. You have a wife and another life. Scale it back, we aren't going anywhere. Content is great!