Easing the Burden

For a while now I have been kicking around the idea of lessening the load I bear here on the site. This weekend was a perfect illustration as to why that is needed. This weekend I had a post to write for both the Special Topics and What's Going On!? blogs, as well as illustrations to finish and a story to polish for the reading group on the Musings of Calliope board. Needless to say it would have been a difficult task even if I had a full weekend, which I didn't. This Saturday I had a “Welcome to the new company” day long corporate group hug, which for some reason was called training, for the entire day. I have spent the remainder of my free time writing like mad and trying to get my programs working correctly. I am incredibly stressed right now. This is not what I had in mind for my life after setting this whole blog up and it is clear that a reduction is needed.

As I said before, I have been kicking this idea around for a few months now, I am outputting way to much to the blog. On a typical month I will spit out four What's Going On!? Blogs (1 page each) 2 Buttery Goodness pages (1 page) and a Special Topics post (2 pages) that equates to a minimum of eight pages a month, or 12,144 words a month. I have only output a fraction of that in my other writing projects during the same time frame. Also this site will eventually transition away from being all about me and become something bigger and therefore the blogs must become more streamlined and efficient so I can work on other tasks that need doing.

It is clear that a reduction is needed but I have been at a loss to figure out how to go about it. I like posting for you guys and I feel that most of you enjoy reading these posts, so the idea has been to try and achieve the best of both worlds. Ideas for doing this have ranged from guest contributors, to getting rid of whole sections of the blog. The one idea I like most is a combination of the blogs and unrestricted system for posts. What I mean is that I will be rolling all of the blogs into one, technically this has already been done. Since switching to Dreamanvil all three blogs have been on the same list of posts, subdivided into their groups. One of the limitations I could not figure out how to work around with Drupal is that each user gets one blog, even the site admin (me). But by combining the blogs I also mean that I will no longer make duplicate submissions (postings on the same day) unless there is a need or reason to. Buttery Goodness and Special Topics posts will continue, but their posts will take the place of a What's Going On!? post for that week. I will also be lifting the length requirement of my What's Going On!? posts so that I can get them out the door and into your hands quicker, so expect a little less idle rambling from now on.

While it may not please everyone, I think this will free me up to work on improving the site and give me more time to work on my various projects. As always leave any comments or suggestions in the Comments section below! Oh and check out this weeks Special Topics post, it's spiffy. Sayonara.