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This, That and the Other Thing
- 07/23/10
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Friday morning seems like a good time to give you a couple of personal updates and to ask you a question about this web site. But make sure that you don’t miss today’s A La Carte and Free Stuff Fridays.
Quality
I have been thinking a little bit lately about the quality of the content of this site. A few times I’ve run back through the articles I’ve written in recent weeks and have thought to myself that the quality of the posts is suffering a little bit. As I look to what I was writing a year ago, or even six months ago, and compare it to what I’ve been doing over the past two months or so, I can’t help but feel that the level of quality has dropped off. And I’m sorry about this. I’m quite frustrated by it.
I think this drop in quality is directly related to the book I’m writing. I’m into crunch time with the book and it is sapping the vast majority of my creative energy (and just about every other kind of energy I can create or can pour into my body through caffeinated beverages). This is inevitable, I think, and yet it is still frustrating. I am trying to adapt a little bit, mostly by readjusting my daily blogging routine. But I think the problem remains.
So what I want to do today is to ask you to bear with me. The book is due on September 1 and I think that as soon as it is complete and submitted to the publisher I will suddenly find myself with a lot more energy and a lot more creativity. There are several blog series I’ve been wanting to write, but I just haven’t been able to find time and attention to research and to write them.
One solution would be for me to blog less, to stop blogging every day, but I am hesitant to do that. The daily routine has proven really valuable to me over the years and has added an important element of structure to my life. I’d be loathe to let it go.
Again, bear with me and let’s assume that the fall will bring better things.
The Next Story
Despite the fact that it is sapping my creative energy (or perhaps because it is sapping my creative energy), the book is progressing well. For those who don’t know, it is set to be published by Zondervan in April of next year. The working (and near-final) title is The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion. It is a book that deals with living as Christians in a digital age. It describes how we got this way, how life has changed for those of us living in the aftermath of the digital explosion, and suggests how we can live with virtue in such a time as this.
I don’t exactly know how to quantify the amount I’ve written and the amount that remains, but I suppose I’m probably at about 75% completed after six months of writing. I have five weeks remaining to finish it up. However, I think this is quite typical—a lot of progress tends to come in the final days. Why put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow…
As I write the final chapters, I am also starting to think about cover design (working with Zondervan’s creative team) and to think about endorsements and possibly having someone write a Foreword. I have already mentioned this on Twitter, but if you can think of someone who would be a natural fit to write the foreword to a book dealing with technology and Chrisitan living, do let me know. I am eager for [good] suggestions.
Guest Posts
And finally, a question.
While I was on vacation last week, I had a series of guest bloggers cover for me. Though individual posts received plenty of comments, I did not receive from any of you an assessment of whether you enjoyed reading articles from other voices. So I thought I would ask: What do you think of me making guest blogs a regular feature of this site? I would probably set aside Saturdays for this purpose, having someone different provide an article each week—some people who are known, some people who are unknown. Quality would be the criteria, not audience.
Let’s separate this question from the issue of quality above. The easy answer is to say, “If you’re having trouble generating good content, have someone else generate it for you.” But I’d prefer to separate the two since these guest posts would come in the good times and the bad.
So let me know what you think. Should I make guest blogs a weekly or a regular feature around these parts?
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
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Comments (41)
I like the guest posts! Especially when they are from people I know and respect. Keep them coming on Saturdays. Tim, you work hard. Give yourself a little break! Thanks for what you do and are doing in helping people be discerning about what they read.
I also think the guest posts are excellent. Especially liked Ed Stetzers post. I think it helps give a different perspective, it can give frequent readers perspectives they might not get and that can only be good for discussion.
I’m honestly not a huge fan of guest posts on any site, but that’s just me. I read certain blogs because I like the voice of the blogger, and so I don’t tend to be as interested in things others write. That said, if it were only once a week, I think it would be fine.
Frankly Tim I’d be quite happy for you not to blogg each day nor to even to be distracted by introducing guest bloggers. There is a large number of worthwhile blogs that we can whittle our lives reading if you yourself aren;’t blogging. Maybe set aside 3-4days for writing a decent blog and we’d understand that Tuesday and Thursday etc you have a day off for attention to your book and for your family and your responsibilities as a shepherd. Life doesn;t have to be the same from year to year - there are seasons where you are allowed to drift a bit more in the river.
I enjoy your self-reflection. Yes, prioritize your book first. We are praying about that deadline, and I , for one, am anxious to read it. Sometimes I feel that my real life and devotions are hampered by the digital world and I want to read what you have to say. One of the men who spoke at Ligionier might be a good candidate for the foreword of the book.
Sometimes it is pride that makes us feel we have to write perfect posts, do everything, be everything to everyone, never share the load, etc. I would say to have guest bloggers from time to time as that defers to other viewpoints and helps with your load. It doesn’t have to be always on Saturday as that can be a burden for you to find someone also. By the way, I have you on my dashboard, but hadn’t noticed that you write every day and don’t feel you have to.
Cordially,Carol
Re: guests: Although your guests were excellent, I do not like guest posts. I subscribe here to read you and have plenty of opportunity to subscribe to other blogs if I want to read them. If you do go with guests, it would be helpful if the title started with “Guest post” so that I’ll know (from my RSS reader and from your twitter feed) before clicking.
Re: quality/quantity: Fewer is better. Post everyday if it helps you keep the writing discipline, but from a reader’s standpoint,I don’t have time to read posts everyday anyway so I’m more likely to stay subscribed if I know that when I do read something it will be top quality. To me, thoughtful, well-written posts are what distinguishes you in the blogesphere.
In the end, all of this will be up to your discernment. But I appreciate you asking our opinion, brother.
I appreciated the efforts of guest bloggers but I enjoy your voice best. However, if guest bloggers helps your life, go with it. In that case, I would ask perhaps if you could have some who are older. I do need to mention that I haven’t noticed a deterioration of quality. Yours is the first blog I look for. We all do the best we can and that varies on any given day. You have no need to apologize. Blessings on your writings - all of them.
I would like to continue to see the guest posts. I love your writing but have appreciated the introduction to others writing and thoughts as well. Your blog is actually one of only two that I read with any regularity so I appreciate the addition of others opinions and thoughts, vetted by someone I trust.
If I were to be brutally honest, my interest dropped off when I saw that you had opened your site to guest bloggers this past month. I did read one or two, but when I subscribed to Challies.com, I did it for that reason—to hear your voice.
I don’t view you as a brand, per se, but as a brother whom God has given a platform to speak to this generation. Whereas guest blogs are not anathema, I would encourage you, if you choose to make it a regular feature, to be judicious in selection, only posting what you can wholeheartedly endorse as Biblically sound and edifying, even something you wish you had written. Then your voice will still be heard.
Yes, I loved the guest posts. Definitely make them part of the regular routine!
Those of us that freelance know how life changes when a deadline is looming. You are under grace, brother. Do what is best for you and your family. I personally enjoyed some of the guest posts, but I skipped others. I think it would be fine if you just blogged fewer times per week during this season without having to put the extra work on yourself to line up guest bloggers.
I agree with Elizabeth.
I appreciate all of your blogging efforts and enjoyed your first book, so if guest bloggers once a week helps, that’s fine.
I read the guest posts and think they’re fine for when you’re “off the grid,” but I’m not crazy about the idea of making them a regular feature. I come to your blog to read your words and thoughts. It’s akin to going to a friend’s house for coffee, then having to have coffee with someone else. That “someone else” might be perfectly delightful, but he or she isn’t the person I came to visit.
This may not seem like a “natural fit” at first glance, but I think Todd Friel would be an excellent choice to write the foreword to your book.
Tim, the first name that came to mind for a foreward to the book would be Dr. Al Mohler—only because I’m more familiar with his commentaries on technology and Christian living than those of Ed Stetzer or Burk Parsons. But based on their Ligonier pre-Conference messages, any 1 of the 3 would be great.
I think guest posts from time to time (every other week, once a month, maybe?) are always a nice addition to any blog. It helps you with other time constraints as well as folding another voice and angle into conversation. Hope these next 5 weeks aren’t nearly as caffiene-laden and sleepless as you’re anticipating. Thanks in advance for your labor in serving the brethren in this way.
I wonder if it’s healthy that you feel like you have to blog every day. I don’t know how you do it; it must be really difficult and I would think that the quality would most certainly suffer. I’m sort of new to your site, and so I was kind of surprised last week when you (almost apologetically) explained that you wouldn’t be there for all of us, but you had hired some guest writers to babysit your website in the meantime. Quite honestly, I thought, “Are you afraid we’re all going to stop being your friends or something?” Just take a week off.
I used to love it when I was a kid and there would be guest preachers at church services. It was such a nice break from the norm, but it was so rare. I never understood why until I overheard the adults saying that we don’t have guest preachers because: (a) regulars don’t show up if the preacher’s not there; and (b) the preacher can’t stand to let anyone else have his pulpit. If your hesitation to let someone else write a guest post is based on either of these fears, you might want to consider taking a sabbatical from blogging altogether. People are blessed by your material, but they don’t need it. It’s just a blog, you know?
I’m preaching to myself as I write this, by the way, and I can tell you that, being a blogger who only allows myself to blog once a week, it takes humbling discipline.
My position is that blogs are a generally personal thing and should remain as such, so I’d side against guest posts. I don’t see a need to publish something daily just to keep readers coming back for more, and an overly busy blogger may enjoy relieving himself of the weight of putting something out there every day, no matter who provides the content.
It is possible that bloggers who feel a compulsion to publish may actually be feeding their own egos and sense of self-importance. Alternatively, it may be motivated by a desire to exercise discipline in an enjoyable activity, perfecting an art through practice. Other virtuous motivations may be possible as well. But needless to say, the online world is not hurting for information, much less noise.
I agree most heartedly with Elizabeth’s comments.
I enjoyed a couple of the guest posts (esp. the one about worship & music) while you were on vacation. Special occasions, yes. Regular feature, no. I tend to unsubscribe from blogs when guest posting becomes a regular feature. The blogger loses his/her voice in the crowd, and worse, the guests posts tend to deteriorate in quality after a couple months. Occasional silence or fluff in the blogger’s own voice beats fluff from a crowd. ;)
TimI think that blogging everyday is vitally important to important blogs. What if a newspaper only appeared every once in a while? It also sounds like the discipline has been good for you. Probably meeting this deadline has helped you make other deadlines. I work with young men a lot and discipline is so hard to teach. Self motivated discipline like you have is certainly at the top of productive people’s abilities.
Tim, you are making good progress on your book! Have you ever heard this one?”If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute!”
Tim,
I’m at work and don’t have time to read all the preceding responses. So, please forgive any repetition here. For the same reason I’ll only address the quality question that you posed.
Being human, the quality of our exertions MUST vary. There’s simply nothing we can do about it. As with any human endeavor we can only offer to the task our very best, if to give the best that we have is our real goal.
Having said that, I get the impression that the “mission statement” for www.challies.com is, at its most basic level, to “Serve the Lord!” This brings me to the Spurgeon conversion story you shared recently. Remember in this story, that the regular Pastor was absent presumably because of a snow storm; and a “really stupid” lay person volunteered to “preach the gospel” in the best way that he could. And he did just that and a conversion resulted!
Spurgeon noted the simple dialect used and rustic manner in which the man presented the Truth of the Gospel. However, did this “lack of quality” diminish the Gospel’s effectiveness? Hardly!
In that article you said: “I love the contrast of the smart, educated and capable Spurgeon sitting in a pew and the “really stupid” man who climbs into the pulpit one day to exhort him to be saved. It never fails to encourage me to see how God works through the humble to shame, or in this case to humble, the wise.”
Think of how little help (zero) the Holy Spirit needs to be effectual. Is eloquence a necessary ingredient to validate God’s perfect Truth?
Tim, I guess what I’m saying here is… Give us your best effort because of Whom you are serving; not to please your readers. Because if you are faithful to the Lord and your readers are not pleased, then readers beware!
If most of your readers are like me, we already know that you are always giving your best to the effort of sharing the truth. It’s really all we expect from you dear brother…
In Christ,
Dan H.
I think guest posts are a good idea when used well. In other words, don’t have a guest post to have a guest post. Have a guest post because someone is qualified to write on a certain topic that you might not be as qualified to write on. And I wouldn’t have it be too regular, perhaps once every 2 weeks or so.
For an endorsement of forward, Tim Keller comes to mind.
I was happy with most of the guest bloggers this last week but would not want it to be a regular occurrence. Here and there, but not weekly would be my preference. I prefer your voice, your perspective, and would probably consistently tune out on the day you ascribed to a guest blog.
I would have no problem with a weekly guest blog. I’d like to think that you receive it in sufficient time to review it before it’s posted.
I am also looking forward to this book … assuming it’s simple enough for me to get it in South Africa, which is not always the case.
Although I thoroughly enjoy the blog, I feel it definitely should be on the backburner for the book.
As for a foreword, a dark-horse might be T. David Gordon. His slant on media ecology is intriguing and how the digital media that is used changes the user (for the better or the worse).
When you first asked for suggestions on who to ask to write a foreword for your book, , I had mentioned Dr. Al Mohler, but now that I know the topic you’re writing on, Nicholas Carr comes to mind. If not for a foreword, then perhaps just for an endorsement.
http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/
“So let me know what you think. Should I make guest blogs a weekly or a regular feature around these parts?”
Hey Tim - put it to a poll. Can you set one up in sidebar?Personally - when I’ve seen the guest blogger status, I click over or off to another site. I tune to TC for your comments.
I’d rather you link to people you’d recommend reading in your A La Carte than give them guest post status.
I’d think Al Mohler for a foreword, in terms of theological precision and what have you - but I think he’d just attract the people who were going to buy the book anyway.
My FIRST thought, and one that would be paired with publishing with Zondervan to get it out to as many people as possible, is that you need to get Phil Vischer to write the foreword.
Or maybe James Dobson. But probably Phil Vischer.
I think you do what you need to do in this area. As long as your presence and personality are still large at the blog I think guest posts will be fine. I enjoyed them (may have missed one or two, only).
Sharing what’s going on with your readers is nice. You have a lot of friends and I’m sure there is growing anticipation for your book.
Hi Tim, what I love most about your blog is the quality of the writing. A well written post draws me in to read about a topic I may not have been particularly interested in, so I can understand your concern. Given your pursuit of quality, I would enjoy reading guest posts once a week - again it can introduce fresh ideas and a different voice while upholding the nature of your blog because you are choosing the articles. Your book sounds interesting, someone like Abraham Piper might be a good name for an endorsement.
I was going to vote wholeheartedly for you having regular guest posts, especially if they’re by people whom you respect whose writings we won’t find elsewhere on the internet. (What? Not everybody has a blog??) I still vote for that, I guess. But you should probably be asking God this question. Nobody reading this should be so completely dependent on you for spiritual feeding that they can’t handle a change (or a not-change). Yes, we enjoy reading your words, obviously—but you’re human and you have limited time. I’d ask God what would please Him. He’s put you in this season in life, so how does He want you to use it?
Tim,
Thanks for your efforts and honesty in your post. I enjoy your posts tremendously and if you have a guest blogger while you are on vacation or other occasional times I think that would be great. Personally, I don’t think that it needs to be a regular feature but that is your decision. As far as daily posts from you, I’m happy with what you decide is best for you and your family. While it maybe good discipline for you to post every day I would never want to read a post that you felt obligated to write because you did not write one that day. You offer your readers a wealth of information and your blog is one of the few that I consider worthwhile.
Thanks for your efforts.
Tim,
So from these comments, what did you decide to do?
Rick Holland at Grace Community Church in CA would be a great person for a forward/endorsement. He’s now a more regular blogger, a frequent tweeter, and especially with the Resolved Conference, has been utilizing a lot of social networking and online media to promote the conference.
I’ll also cast my vote for Al Mohler!
Some other recommendations for endorsements might be Mark Dever, Justin Taylor, and Josh Harris.
An endorsement from John Piper would probably trump all, but depending on when you need his endorsement, he still might on leave.
I would like to see more discussion of intelligent design within your guest posts.
My suggestion for the forward is Os Guinness.
In response to your question about guest bloggers. Good idea just use them sparingly. The purpose of having your blog come through my RSS feed is because I am interested in what YOU write. If you find a writer interesting the chances are I will too. Bottom line, your readers subscribe to you. Guest bloggers can open up your readers to more people and that is good. Just use them occasionally. Thanks for asking!