Wikipedia describes a muse to be the “goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths.”
Well as some of you have noticed, I have taken a small break from blogging. I felt like I had lost my muse. I didn’t know what to write about. A lot of things that I was writing about and thinking about was boring myself so I decided to withdraw, reconnect with what’s happening in the world, and start up again. This is me starting up again.
It’s funny because it all started right around when I listened to the audio of Merlin Mann and John Gruber’s talk from SXSW about how to be a better blogger. They asked the question, “what are you obsessed with?
After thinking about it, I found this question increasingly hard to answer. Do I want to be the guy who blogs about social media? Not really. Do I want to be the guy who writes about a new CSS problem? Not really. Do I want to be the guy who reposts the random thing that I find on Digg or Google Reader? Only if I can really add something to the convo.
I needed to figure out where I could focus my intellectual fire power, which led to me thinking more about where generally my passions lie.
I love what I do… commnity management. I love serving people. I love helping people connect together. I love helping communities form, especially when it’s in a way that may not have happened otherwise. These are the things that I’m obsessed with.
I do love technology but for me it really is just a means to an end and not the end. It absolutely doesn’t matter to me whether or not community is built using technology. All too often I feel like we lean on technology too hard and end up missing out on the great memories that could be made with offline community.
This is the stuff that I want to write about. This is the stuff that I think about all the time. It’s what I’m obsessed with.
So… expect more cool things coming from this blog soon.
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 
Dude–Welcome back to you and your muse. Amen to what you wrote. Community building is so incredibly important to everything. I’m anxious to read your thoughts–Dad
Justin — thanks for sharing and congrats! I can totally relate and this post inspired me to do some passion searching. I’m excited to see more posts from you in the future.
PS – so great meeting you at FooCamp! I hope we run into each other again soon.
This post is one of the best I’ve read in quite some time. I think that what you are going to write about is important and am glad that you’ve really thought about the next steps for this blog. Already I’m excited for what’s to come.
Justin,
I can’t say how much I agree with you here. When I write my own blog I often find myself doing a bit of soul searching. There’s got to be a purpose and a return. There’s got to be some way that my lines of thought connect with and improve or contribute to the human condition in a positive way.
I believe your most powerful point in this post is really: what we do with technology is so much more than just about the technology itself and the potential profits to be made. It’s something I’ve been mulling over in my head since the days we walked the quarter mile debating political theory and Constitutional Law at RIT.
Please expand upon that!