I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but haven’t really taken action on it. The key issue that I want to address is that I tend to fill post space with commentary on current events, which then encourages me to spend a lot of time reading the news and staying current with what other people are thinking.
Most of my most popular posts are in that vein, but it’s not really what I want to spend my time reading and writing about. Part of my dissatisfaction/confusion about what to do with my time has also lead to a drop off in my writing productivity. My general lack of focus and the amount of time that I’ve had to dedicate to staying on top of current affairs has made other projects that require more concentrated effort founder and go unfinished.
So, thinking out loud, what I’d like to do is to make this site sort of a similar production to what Dan Carlin does with his Hardcore History podcast. I still want to write about current events, but I’ll start doing that on other sites rather than distorting the focus that I want to put on this site.
Because people also tend to prefer a mix of audio, video, and text material on the web, I’ll aim to produce fewer, bigger, better-researched pieces that incorporate speech as well as text.
My top focus will be on the history of the English-speaking world, with some broader material on the rest of the West. I’ll still produce individual book reviews, but I think I’ll shift more over to syntopic reading of certain topics or periods in history instead.
I think what’s good about what Carlin does (even when I don’t agree with him) is that every piece of material that he puts out is researched to a higher standard of quality than we typically get from either the internet, TV, or magazines. When I also think about what I liked the most about reading Moldbug’s corpus (and that of others on his level) was that focus on history.
When I ponder over the writing that I’ve actually felt good about, it tends to be the stuff that doesn’t just come off the top of my head, that required a lot of outside research. There are also far more people out there just saying whatever comes to mind, and fewer producing more focused work that requires some investment. While I can compete just fine on writing quality alone, I do sometimes feel like a windbag.
If I do manage to pull it off, I think this kind of material can also reach a less ideological audience and have more of a beneficial effect while also being a more enjoyable side project for me. If I take the same hour or two I would spend every day staying on top of events on working on longer term projects, I’ll be able to get a lot more done that’s useful.
Any updates on the autodidact project or how this will direction change will interface with it?
Best of luck in this endeavor. Lots of cool stuff via Jackal Hour Squad coming out in Jan 2016 and I’m looking forward to something with more to chew on coming out of here.
Yeah that will feed into it because I will be posting less frequently. That’ll make email more important, and the autodidact course will be a hook to encourage people to sign up.
Current events are generally a hindrance from producing something substantive. They are an erratic mess, climbing over top of one another madly and creating quite a spectacle, shouting over study if you let them.
>Because people also tend to prefer a mix of audio, video, and text material on the web,
Personally, I only care about text. And I think the majority of your readership too. Listening to a podcast is such a bother, I never get around to listen to them. I can read ideas in text just easy, what is the point in either entertaining my family or coworkers with listening to things that they would consider kinda weird, or plugging in headphones and not hear what they tell me as long as it lasts? It makes no sense.
Pictures are fine, they illustrate things. But it should be text, IMHO. Podcasts and vids are all kinds of awkard to consume unless you live completely isolated from other humans in some man-cave. And you cannot speak as fast as fast I can read. Time-wasting etc.
And what is the easiest to produce? Text. Audio, unless you are a perfect Toastmaster, takes 5 recordings in order to keep all the um er ah fillers to the minimum. Takes rehearsals etc. So it wastes your time too.
BR
The Dividualist
dividuals.wordpress.com
Generally, I’d agree with you, at least for my personal taste.
People tend to consume audio while they’re doing other things like chores, commuting, exercising, or during down moments at work. Some people also have to work with text all day, and prefer relaxing with pre-chewed media.
Text is obviously easier + cheaper to produce, but a/v is easier for people to consume. Text will continue to be the primary form of content on this site.
It’s just going to be supplemented with the other material, which will take some additional time, but it’ll also make it easier to spread the material. People who don’t want the audio won’t be shortchanged.
At least ideally, the research will go into informing the text. The audio will be more of a byproduct of the text if I do decide to go forward with it. I’ll also be trying to write more off of this site rather than on it.
I’m not a perfect toastmaster, but I’m good enough.
Pre-chewed media reminds me of what you can with a vita mix. This comment also reminds me of the fact that when in a exercise generated deep trance folks are much more prone to absorb/digest the content they are subjected too. Cheers Henry
I really enjoy your writing and I am impressed with how prolific you are. Some of the podcasts out there can get a little self absorbed and the voices always ruin it for me, most writers don’t have that “radio” voice and it makes a big difference for the listener to hold attention.
Thanks.
So, it’s not going to be a podcast — more like a lecture on whatever the topic is. My radio voice is acceptable. I have to spend a lot of time on the phone to make sales, and I’ve done public speaking, so it’s not something I’m totally unfamiliar with.
I like this decision and support it 100%.
Ideology is boring. History is fun. Art is fun. Music is fun. Understanding people is fun. Pretty much everything outside ideology is more enjoyable than the ideology itself. The whole advantage to having a based ideology should be that one can talk about (seemingly) value-neutral subjects without being retarded about it, not so that one becomes permanently and endlessly caught up in the ideology itself. The right outlook is a currency, and it purchases better goods. It should never be the object of pursuit in itself.
My feelings are similar to yours.
You write well Henry.
Sometimes you have to do what you need to do, not what you want to do.
I hate writing. I really do, and I’ve got so much other stuff going on. I do this as a kind of duty.
I wouldn’t give up on the writing. You’re one of the sane voices out there.
Not giving up, just spending more time on research and planning rather than just on the writing.
It’s more that I’m aiming to bring more focus to the blog. There’s also a good chance that there’ll be a kid in the next year or so, so if I’m going to keep doing this with as much focus as I have been, it has to be more directed — and at least cover the diaper bills.
Is there any chance that your writings would take on a more [url=http://orthosphere.org/2013/05/23/what-is-the-orthosphere/]Orthospherean[/url] element? You have a very enjoyable and accessible style of writing. It might be a nice direction to infuse some of your writings with more of that kind of attachment rather than sterile objective detachment.
At any rate, I have always enjoyed your offerings, Mr. Dampier. I’m certain your appreciative audience will enjoy your new direction as well. Best of luck and looking forward to interesting reading.
Cheers!
Maybe, but I don’t think I’m a good enough Catholic to really pull it off well. Also I’m not sure if people appreciate recent converts with spotty track records lecturing about matters of faith.
I was wondering when you’re output would begin to taper off, nobody can hit home runs every day. I think it’s a great idea, I would greatly enjoy longer essays that I could digest and spar in the comments.
As far as podcasts go, I will disagree with your commenters. I personally love NRx podcasts. Nothing like a good NRx podcast as I’m conquering the world in Civ4, sure as hell beats any tv show. And I get a lot out of them too!!
Take care, looking forward to your next piece.
You’re not the only one who does this with podcasts/lectures. Thanks for the encouragement.