Personal Notes: Progress and Changes at The Memory Cache blog.

Today’s post is a personal note about the state of the blog after nearly six months of daily reviews and articles.

I’m very pleased with the quantity of hopefully interesting information and opinion that I’ve shared with readers in this first half year, and am looking forward to continuing onward into the indefinite future! However, a half year into this project, it seemed like a good time to take stock of what I’ve done so far, and what I want to do with The Memory Cache blog going forward.

Several friends who read the blog have expressed surprise at the amount of writing I’ve done, and the sheer number of cultural items (books, movies, TV shows) I had to consume in order to have something to write about, day after day. And it’s true – I’ve just passed my 200th post, or more than one per day, for every day since I started the blog in February.  That's a lot of reading and TV watching, not to even mention the writing part!

However, as I think I mentioned at the beginning, I actually consumed much of this content, and compiled my notes and reviews over a seven year period, going back through the pandemic years, and all the way back to 2015. Over this first five+ months of the blog, I curated that back content, rewrote and added to many of those existing reviews, and also added plenty of new reviews of things I was enjoying this year. But it was a mix, with many of the written reviews almost ready to post, straight out of my back files, rather than needing to be written now.

Happily, most of that back information and content has now appeared, and is tagged and available by category for anyone to search and check out. The downside, though, is that I’m now (as I say whenever I catch up with a live broadcast while watching something on the DVR) “marooned in real time”.

In the blog context, that means for me to report on anything – book, movie or TV show – I now have to actually consume the content (read the book, or watch the show), then write a new review.  I can't just pull it out of the back files on a slow day.

This is exactly where I wanted to be, and planned to be when I started, after about this much time had passed. But what this means is that from this point on, almost all reviews and articles posted will be “just written”, or “hot off the press” so to speak, and they are much more likely to be about content that was recently released, and issues or topics which are currently being widely discussed and reviewed.

This doesn’t mean I won’t continue to discover new content from earlier years that I think is interesting, fun or important, and write about it. I certainly will. But it does mean that my posts are probably going to be at least somewhat more consistently relevant and timely than some of the ones thus far.

The other important consequence of finishing with the prior reviews, though, is that I can, and indeed must slow the pace down from this point on. I can’t dependably find and enjoy enough new content, and have the time to think and write about it on a daily basis (particularly while I'm also writing, recording and producing new music and video). Therefore, starting today, I’ll be aiming to post only 2 to 3 times per week, without a fixed schedule. This should allow me the time to find, enjoy and review items of wide interest, and of high quality and importance, to share with you.

I am also thinking of adding a couple of new features. One type of post I want to try occasionally will be called “Honorable Mentions”. These posts will include a short list of good books or shows of a particular type, where I will simply provide a brief description for each one, rather than a full review. This way I can note items I’ve read or seen that seemed worthwhile or interesting, but perhaps not exceptional (to me, anyway). Readers can then take note of the reference information, and check them out if they’re interested. Everyone has different tastes, so this seems a helpful way to offer suggestions without going into depth in reviewing every item.

Another area I want to explore is reviewing some other types of media. Like many of you, I read a number of major periodicals, and listen to some podcasts too. I could name the publications and podcast show names, but that wouldn’t be that useful – most busy people don’t have the time or the interest to keep up with the constant torrent of information out there. My thought instead was that occasionally, when I come upon a specific article or podcast episode that provides information that is new and startling, or perhaps puts an interesting or unusual spin on a current topic or event, I would love to share short reviews of these types of items too when I come upon them, and pass along the references.

One other option I am exploring is starting a mailing list for the blog. The idea would be to allow interested readers to subscribe, to receive periodic notices with news about recent posts, and a reminder and link to go check out the blog if you haven’t been there recently. If I do this, I promise you would never be receiving more than 1 or 2 emails per month. No one needs a ton more emails in their inbox, but it can be useful as an occasional reminder of something you want to follow regularly. I'll have more news on this idea soon.

So there we are. To sum up, the blog is in good shape, I’ve finished the “phase one” populating of the site’s reviews collection from my back files, and I'm moving to a 2-3 posts per week schedule, rather than posting 7 days per week. I’m also planning to add some new types of content, and perhaps an occasional informational mailing for subscribers.

If you can think of any other things you’d like to see, or have any other comments you’d like to share with me about the blog, please feel to write to me at info@wayneparkernotes.com.  I'd love to hear from you.  And if you have books or shows you think are fantastic, particularly ones that aren't on the bestseller or blockbuster lists, send me a note -- I'll take a look, and see if they might be a good subject for a review.

I hope you continue to enjoy the blog, and if you like it, please let your friends know about it too! And have a great week.