I’m at a point in my blogging life where thoughts of wrapping up this little project have crossed my mind. This isn’t due to any lack of interest in collecting, or blogging for that matter. It’s more a question of capacity.
I used to work in an industry selling products made by plastic injection molding machines. I won’t bore you with the whole process of how it works, although it is pretty fascinating. Anyway, our company had dozens and dozens of injection molding machines. These machines could crank out a certain amount of products a day, with each machine having a maximum capacity. If a machine had a capacity of 1,000 plain do-dads a day, then 1,000 plain do-dads a day was the most you were going to get. It was physically impossible to get 1,001 plain do-dads, because 1,000 plain do-dads was the machine’s capacity. If we wanted to make 500 polka-dot do-dads one day, that meant that we would have to make 500 less plain do-dads to free up the capacity.
In a way, we all are injection molding machines. There are limits to our capacity over the course of a day, week, month, that cannot be increased. We have the standard do-dads (family, work, school, etc.) that we have to “produce” over the course of the week no matter what, and have to figure out where the capacity for the polka-dot do dads ( in my case, collecting, blogging and hitting on the lovely wife) comes in.
For me, the standard do dads need more of my capacity these days. Growing kids who are more and more involved in more and more activities need more and more of my capacity. A more demanding job demands more of my capacity. That’s not a complaint, it’s just life.
I’d been tinkering with the idea of setting a stop date for this little Napkin Doon blog project to wrap up around the day that I started it two years ago. I would have a clean, solid two year effort at the blog and would have something to look back on fondly.
Here’s the problem: I like being Napkin Doon.
Here’s the other problem: I recently discovered twitter and am starting to have fun being Napkin Doon there. Same goes with Listia.
Here’s the other, other problem: I still haven’t convinced Topps to make a George Will card.
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So not only do I need to find capacity for my current Napkin Doon business, I need to find more capacity to take on the above challenges.
So I’m taking the fork in the road. It’s a 50/50 proposition that I hang it up this spring, but at the same time it looks like I’m going to spread my wings a little and try to expand into other media. I’m sure this wishy washy direction surprises no one who has read my blog for any period of time.
7 comments:
Nap must survive one way or another. We'd hate to lose you, man. BTW, love the work metaphor.
Please don't do, Napkin. The blog world needs more people like you, not less.
I've been there myself. Hopefully destiny has you pick the latter.
The do-dad analogy is pretty apt. I'd stick with it if I were you. I like reading what you write.
Just because a machine has the capacity for 1,000 do-dads a day doesn't mean that you need to run it at capacity. In a business setting, yes, one should take advantage of it, provided the raw materials are there. In the life setting, one should use the machine when it is useful.
I think that most of us have some tool in the garage for that special project, whether it is for the car, the wood shop, whatever. We've used it once or twice, but it might be useful in the future.
Happy metaphoring.
Dude. My defunct blog folder is full. You aren't allowed to quit. There is a solution, though. You can reduce your quality specification and take the governor off the machine.
Now, I am not suggesting you run it so fast it blows up. Not at all. Do what I do when I am creating a blog post. I no longer write slowly and deliberately. But, I also don't write as fast as I type either. I find a happy medium.
To put it another way, I don't blog slow and I don't blog gast. I blog half fast.
A little Nap is better than no Nap at all.
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