There is a blogging machine: if you look closely enough you will see it. The machine is made up of thousands, if not millions of parts. The parts are all unique, but they all sing from the same song sheet. The cogs in the machine move with precision, they make it look so easy and they lure you with promises of success, page views and cash...

There is a blogging machine: its cogs are known as "influencers" and if you read, watch, listen closely, they are all cooing to you their songs of seduction: "Just follow in my footsteps and you too can be rich/ famous/ influential/ respected/ trusted/ loved/ all of the above".

There is a blogging machine: its workings are arcane, hidden, secretive and all can be revealed for three easy payments of $19.95.

There is a blogging machine: it spits out formulas for must read posts that are copied by thousands who willingly seek out the chance to be just an identical blog cog that catches the eye... fleetingly.

There is a blogging machine: it creates easy to use pages, shells, themes... all opportunities to express you own individual style, if you only choose from these pre-prepared , pre-approved templates.

There is a blogging machine that explicitly tells you how to write your posts to maximise traffic, even providing you with suggested pre-cooked blog topics, at the same time as imploring you to be your real self online.

There is a blogging machine that assures you that success is there for the taking, if only you follow the well worn path to nirvana.

Rage against the blog machine

 This is my blog. I blog on Posterous which, apparently, is supposed to be more of a media sharing site than a "serious" text based blogging service - go figure. I chose Posterous because it is easy to use and I can spend my time on content rather than mucking around with coding on a theme or template.

This is my blog where I write what I want to write, how I want to write it. I ignore SEO. I ignore rules of what you should and shouldn't write about on a professional PR blog. I turn my back on the perfect structure for posts. I stay away from what's hot, who's cool and spinning out 'how to' guides that lure you to seek to be a carbon copy of me.

There is a science to successful blogging. There is a path to exploding page views and rivers of income from advertising and affiliate markering schemes. I get that. I respect those of you who have had success by following these rules... 

I'm joining the revolution and blogging my way. You may not love it, you may not read it, but it's my blog, not the machine's.