Scalzi has an interesting post today about the (un)popularity of personal blogs. Money quote:

if you want to crack the top 100 without writing on a single topic, especially politics or tech, it helps if you are a pretty girl, or someone whose online nickname has become a verb. Short of that, you’re pretty much on your own.

[Unrelated aside: the new version of WordPress allows you to copy and paste with the links intact. Cool!]

I seriously doubt I fall into either of Scalzi’s categories, but I’m also not angling for the top 100 with this blog. CogDaily, on the other hand… well, I can dream, can’t I?

The purpose of Word Munger is to help me clear my mind before I do my “serious” writing. As you can see from the calendar to the left, lately I haven’t been doing much mind-clearing. That’s a bad thing — I really need to get back to using this blog for its original purpose. Part of the problem, I think, is the fact that I’m now working out with much more intensity than I ever have before, with the possible exception of when I was on the college track team. That period of my life also coincided with my worst college grades ever. Perhaps marathon training and blogging are incompatible.

I think it’s more likely that I’m just using the training as an excuse, and that I still need to use Word Munger the way I always have. That, in turn, will help me be more productive with my other writing. It’s just possible that I can have it all. Well, except for that whole “money” thing.