Words or pictures? A note on the esthetics of creating a blog post.

More than one long-time reader has remarked that the amount of original writing in bookofjoe has steadily declined over the years to the point where some days there's no more than a few sentences or phrases in toto.

And even those oftimes might as well go in the toilet.

Wait a minute....

Inversely proportional to the gradual decrement in language use is the rise of photos and graphics, in both size and quantity, to the point where some days are essentially a series of photo essays.

What gives?

A number of things, which I will elaborate on forthwith.

First, the move to pictures was given a huge boost by my acquisition last fall of a 27" iMac, which so far hasn't had any problems that have vexed so many since it came out.

The gorgeousness of things on this screen cannot be overemphasized, and as a result I'm so in love with appearances that I can't help but want to share them, even though I know most people aren't seeing them in such vivid clarity and color.

Second, I'm awfully lazy at heart, and it's easier to find pictures and organize them than to put on my thinking cap, which is sometimes impossible to find no matter how hard I look.

And without my thinking cap, to paraphrase

Third, I've got a bee in my bonnet about advance posting, such that I simply can't get far enough ahead to suit myself.

Ideally, in the best of all possible worlds, I'd post ahead for decades such that the dead hand, as it were, continued to put out bookofjoe long after I'd drawn my last breath.

I don't know why that sort of thing fascinates me so but it does.

At present I've got about the next 25 days already composed, though I always end up changing things up as great material presents itself out of the blue.

Anyway.

Advance posting is pretty much impossible if you spend three or six hours creating a single post as I've been wont to do — to do more than keep up on a daily basis, there just aren't enough hours in a day.

So I end up choosing the path of least resistance to getting posts ready as fast as possible, which doesn't equate with spending the time and effort required to put things in words to the extent I once did on a regular basis.

For that purpose well-chosen graphics and pictures are far more expedient.

So that's the long and the short of why the change in the nature of the content.

But there's good news for those who liked things better the old way.

After many months trying as hard as I could to post enough to outlast myself, I've concluded I just can't do it.

So I'm going to revert, back to more words in the future, in fact many more, as I resign myself to not being able to project myself forward in virtual space as far as I'd like to go.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Until joeTV one day suddenly erupts, seemingly out of nowhere.