We’re headed into the prime-time session of night one of the convention and I’ve got a couple of observations:
1) Blogging a convention is hard. It might not seem so, given your proximity to politicians and spin meisters, but the din of activity really impedes a central tenet of blogging – thoughtful writing.
2) Being co-located with talk radio is a blessing and a curse. See point #1.
3) Worrying about logistics, tracking down interview subjects, and observing the “big picture” detract from writing time. Again see point #1.
We have no deadlines, except the self imposed variety, but that’s the problem. When you’re seated next to 15 other bloggers typing away the urge to produce instantly is hard to resist. Sometimes thoughtful reflection is called for, but at a convention finding the time and space to do so are scarce resources.
Dude, we made New York magazine. Sort of. Check my latest post.
Kevin,
Is that what you call it? “Thoughtful?”
Rock On!
Paulie
I would have given just about anything to have attended and actually blogged about this night. Now that is a maker of dreams.
Not even close to the DNC, I can tell you that for sure – I couldn’t stand more than 5 minutes of it myself.
Is it me or is Edwards actually saying stupid things? He said something really stupid last night and then again today AND they BASHED Laura Bush? What is there to bash about when it comes to her??? Kerry and Edwards deserve themselves and by no means do we want those two idiots running our country. AMEN
~C
I think you have captured the essence of live-blogging, Kevin. The worst is when you waste your time writing about something innane simply because you feel required to produce. And then realize the oh so post worthy thing that you missed while you were developing innane content.
Don’t let yourself get too tired. Alertness helps more than anything else.
Don’t worry about the big picture, you’re one person. Write your experiences and put the big picture together later.
We [your readers] are compiling our own ideas of the big picture by reading the news, watching the coverage and reading the blogs, it does a disservice to us all if the bloggers on site are all trying to describe the forest, when we want to read about some of the trees.
Enjoy yourself, write about your experience just as you have been doing and we’ll add your views to our sense of the whole… Then compile yours later…
I will be looking forward to all of the after convention posts.