Sailing through the infinite Internet Sea, the other day I ran into some wise “how-to” articles about blogging, SEO (?) technics, success, money and all those appurtenances.
The starting point of said articles was the absurd assumption that every blogger wants to build an audience.
According to the authors, the blogger must follow some harsh and strict rules in order to build an audience, like “thou shall avoid bad writing”, “thou shall inspire conversation and drive readers to comment, share, or engage with the content” or “NO lack of Direction/Strategy”.
Let me philosophize very briefly about those three basic rules:
1. English isn’t my native language. I write this blog mainly to practice and learn this damned unnatural (for Mediterraneans) lingo. So, I can offer to my two or three loyal worldwide readers nothing but a meager vocabulary and a spine-chilling grammar.
2. Covetotop blogs very often about his beloved countryside and some neighboring territories, all of them most probably waiting to be bailed out by the IMF. How the hell can this shit inspire any sort of conversation & engagement?. Casual visitors, if any, fly away very soon …
3. Direction and Strategy? Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! What’s that? Ho ho ho ho ho!!!!
Ok. Let’s be serious now. I’ll analyze step by step the “Direction & Strategy” issue and its metaphysical aspects in the following paragraphs (all beautifully illustrated):
The picture below (that of Tío Cirilo and his “ciripolen drink”) was taken by Covetotop in a lost village of Las Hurdes, Extremadura, in the deep, deepest Spain …
This is the Swiss house of a great mind:
Salvador Dalí painted this head. Curious, isn’t it?:
Indiana Jones was here. The secluded beach below, named “Monsul”, is located in Cabo de Gata (Andalucía). Some parts of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” were filmed here. Certainly, it was a fake crusade on a wonderful beach…
A real crusade took place on top of this sacred peak (picture below). It’s the “Montsegur Castle”, in the Pyrenees mountains. The Cathars’ legend ended here many centuries ago. I’ll post about the mysterious Cathars and their unreachable castles of Southern France one of these days …
Patatas meneás!:
A crocodile on the wall of a church in the middle of La Mancha:
Covetotop’s went on pilgrimage to Leipzig, just to say thanks to this great man …
A blog that follows no “strategy” is like an old wagon: it can contain anything …
Perhaps my disenchanted and discombobulated (I’ve just discovered this funny English word!) virtual visitors were expecting a little “Direction/Strategy” …
But I’m afraid there’s neither direction nor strategy in this blog. There’s nothing but the utmost freedom to blog about nothing in particular.
And I love it.
I had no idea that you were not American, Covetotop! (I am.) I casually wondered how “A Mediterranean blogger” engineered a long term travel gig in your part of the world. Your English is flawless, and I am picky.
I am not much interested in the visual arts – but I follow your photography and musings. Not only is the photography beautiful, one of my fondest wishes would be to hike or bike your area of the world and visit the old churches, monasteries, etc., that you present. Every time I look at your posts, it is the nearest thing to the pleasure of being there. If I am one of only a few, then thank you for catering to the few, and please keep posting.
–Aggie
I am flattered. Thank you so much for your kind words! I’ll keep posting, for sure …
you need a direction only if you have a clear destination to reach. otherwise it’s wanderlust, it’s freedom, it’s life. and it’s lots of fun, IMF and SEO notwithstanding
Agreed
I love this post. It’s like an intercambio, but I guess I don’t get to practice my Castellano. Your English is great, and I think it’s a cool way for you to practice it. Discombobulated. I know how you feel about that silly sounding word. That’s how I felt when I learned the word gilipollas.
All these rules drive me crazy too. I find I enjoy my blogging so much more when I don’t worry who reads it or not.
I used the word “discombobulated” as a synonym of disoriented, perplexed or confounded. I hope it’s correct.
I think blogging is funny when it’s a personal, free and a somehow ilogical thing. We must follow a lot of rules out there, in the real world. Let’s keep blogging a funny chaos.
Muchas gracias por tu visita
Your blog is A1! And you don’t really believe you are practicing your English!!!
Wow! Thank you! But I’m practicing my English!