My Time Away from Blogging

For like two weeks I’ve been tinkering with a draft of a new blog post, but I can’t seem to get it done. As time goes by, I get more and more skeptical of whether or not I can bang it into good enough shape to somehow qualify as a sufficiently worthy ‘comeback post.’ To plausibly excuse my little hiatus away from blogging, I feel compelled to return to the fray with nothing less than a screed that’s somehow good enough. Whatever that means, I haven’t quite got it, I know.

Not to say that I’m taking all of this so seriously. In fact, I think I’m taking this weblog less seriously than I have before. I admit sheepishly that there was a time, a few years ago, when blogging was one of the most important things in any given day of my life. And sometimes, often enough to be regrettable, it disproportionately dominated my priorities when it really shouldn’t have.

So there are a lot of reasons I’m not blogging right now with quite the alacrity that I have in the past. My day job is busier than ever at the moment, seemingly (and piled on, this week anyway, with extracurricular questions and answers). The weather’s turned nice in New York, too. Finally there’s daylight when I climb out of the subway from my evening commute, and I can wear a tee-shirt to walk Mister President even when the thermometer hits the day’s lows — which I would rather do than sitting in front of my computer. Also, I finally realized: living life is more important than blogging about design.

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  1. Ron Domingue

    Thanks Khoi for the post. I actually just talked to Jason Santa Maria and I coincidentally inquired about your sporadic blogging since you were graciously represented well at An Event Apart, New Orleans several of screenshots of subtraction.com were used in reference to great design.

    Jason mentioned that you thought you may be missing out on life because of blogging. I would tend to agree with the level of success you have had and the business you work in, So cheers and go on and live life. Blogs can wait until we can’t do anything else.

  2. Ben D.

    Good for you. Good to hear some ‘reality’. Seems some folks are so convinced that certain things that ultimately aren’t that important actually are. Nice to hear a level-headed take on it. Again, good for you.

  3. Tony

    Might be a bit vague but, whenever mind or body (or both) say(s) it’s enough, then it’s always a good thing to listen to that. Especially with trivial stuff like blogging as a hobby. Different story for people who earn a living with it.

    So cheers, enjoy your time.

  4. Kristen

    Being a student of Communication and Multimedia Design it would be good to read up on someone with way more experience in the design world. But I guess I can just dive into the archives and read there, it is true, we all have a life to tend to and I definitely support that.

  5. Omar McFarlane

    I have to agree with the preceding comments, go out and live life. Subtraction.com isn’t going to enjoy these sunny days for you, and hey, the web will be here when/if you come back. Look at Dean Allen!

    Take care, Khoi.

  9. john staehli

    you have a job, with stress and high objectives to be met. Maybe you should see your blogging a bit more as the fun part a care less about the greatness of your posts to be. It feels good sometimes to just let go some draft quality thoughts and see where the conversation leads 😉

    Anyway, thanks for the inspiration.

  10. Levi Figueira

    I think that you’re doing the right thing! It’s all about time management and focus. If your main activities are consuming you should always allow yourself some personal time. Your body/mind needs it to succeed at your ‘day job’ and I’m sure that, with time, the appetite for blogging will come along naturally…

    … and if it doesn’t, that’s something that you should always be honest about! 🙂

    Great sincere post!

    Good luck with all your endeavours! 🙂

  11. Jim

    I’m gonna go against the grain here and say that I can’t stand posts like this!

    Every blogger eventually reaches a point where they feel like they have to start out a post with ‘I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in a long time…’ I’ve been guilty of it as well in the past.

    But fellow bloggers understand burn-out and know that the silence means either you’re working hard on something, or you simply don’t have anything to say. That means that the majority of us are not eagerly anticipating your next post.

    Those who stop by who don’t subscribe to RSS feeds aren’t going to be able to tell that you’ve been gone for awhile.

    I’m subscribed to your feed because I’ve found GREAT value in your posts on design and am interested in what you have to say about things. When that (1) appeared next to Subtraction in my Google Reader it was the first thing I clicked on this morning – eager to read what new insight you might have or excited to gain some inspiration from your post. Instead I read the typical post about how life is more important than blogging.

    I’m not hating here – just felt like I had to rant. I’m not going to unsubscribe simply because you haven’t written anything in 2 weeks. I’ll keep that feed open and look forward to reading the next time you’ve got something you want to say.

  12. Khoi Vinh

    Fair enough, Jim, I totally understand what you’re saying. In a way, this post was a cheat… a way to ease me back into posting regularly again. Anyway, I’m going to try and get back at it, and I’ll keep the maudlin posts to a minimum.

  13. beto

    This all sounds like my relationship with blogging. Some years ago, I pretended to provide a continuous stream of greatness through writing, and then… all of a sudden, I just didn’t felt like it anymore. The spark was gone, just like that. (Some personal issues took part on it as well, I guess). It took me a couple of years to overcome such issues and have a go at it again, only now from a much modest perspective/platform and with no further plans in sight. I even put a ‘updated when I feel like it’ disclaimer right in there. There’s more to life than writing/reading blog posts. In your case, maybe it’s been the pressure to live up to the expectations of thousands of people who read this site every day?… I personally don’t care whether you can post every day or once a month, as long as the content is of interesting value and high quality as it’s always been. I’ve heard NYC looks great these days – enjoy your time there.

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