Right off the bat, I learned every day is too often to write a blog. It's hard to keep finding new material that frequently without repeating yourself, and nobody has the time to read a new post every day that's not about Hollywood gossip. (Which was a close second to poetry in my choices for blog topic.) I think the absolute max would be 3-4 posts a week for something this esoteric; even that's pushing it.
I learned I don't know or like nearly as many poems as I thought I did. I was figuring I'd just fish through some of my anthologies and trot out an old chestnut anytime I got stuck. But I quickly went through the grade-A material and started getting desperate. It was a blessing in disguise because it made me search for new work, but it was definitely humbling to realize how little I know and what a small pool of poems I'm really drawing from.
I taught myself how to appreciate listening to poems. One of my early posts was about how I didn't even consider hearing a poem as reading it. I still think the "oral tradition" is somewhat overrated, especially in the age of Slam, but through podcasts and CD anthologies I've really learned that it makes a massive difference in HOW a poem gets read. Not every poet should read their own stuff: sometimes an actor should read it (Alfred Molina is especially good at this), sometimes another poet (see Dylan Thomas doing W.H. Auden). But when it's good, it's really on — see Li-Young Lee or Sylvia Plath.
I figured out pretty late in the game that it's a good idea to have a picture in every blog, so that people using visual RSS readers don't just have a boring old gray screen to stare at while they're deciding whether or not to click on the entry. Most of the time I could just do a Google image search of some weird phrase and pick one that amused me. But if I could do it over again, I might take more time to make the posts themselves more visually arresting.
Also, if I could do it again I might make more of an effort to draw readers in. I don't just mean expand readership, but make more of an effort to promote the blog or encourage friends and strangers that there might be something they'd find worthwhile. As it was, I mostly just kept scribbling, throwing posts into the black and hoping somebody paid attention. I think next time I'll get more on top of both interacting better with readers and networking to become linked with a larger community of bloggers and lit geeks.
There were definitely some missteps (like the PoemBowl to have people vote on which of my poems they preferred), but I found myself enjoying the infrequent features like "Saturday Suck/Silly," "Hollywood Versifier" and "Sunday Thoughts." It helps to break up the monotony of, "And here's .... another poem! I'd like to continue with some of those, find some more ideas for features that could help structure the blog.
So thanks to anybody who's been reading, whether it's on this site or on Facebook. I've really appreciated having your thoughts and feedback. I'll probably keep writing posts, but much less frequently. (I could really use that time for other things like picking my nose or rewatching the entire series of "Knot's Landing.")
Over all it was a good experience: I read and listened to a lot more poems than I would have otherwise, I read critical articles and found some other poetry blogs. It helped me to clarify some of my aesthetics, what I like and dislike and why. For the most part it was fun, but it could also be a real drag. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's over.
I'm not sure how "real" bloggers can do it day in and day out. In the immortal words of the anonymous limericist:
There was once a sad Maître d'hôtel
Who said, "They can all go to hell!
What they do to my wife—
Why it ruins my life;
And the worst is, they all do it well."
It's a new year. Time to change your life.
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