Liveblogging your ambition
One of the features that I will be introducing on The Watchmaker Project following its November 1st redesign and Reboot will be a ‘Projects’ area of the site. This new section will be an alternative blog, allowing me to post thoughts, progress and announcements on various personal projects, with each project summarised on the Projects home page (complete with natty little icons).
Visitors will be able to view an archive of each project’s entries, and comment on individual articles in the normal way.
My motivation for introducing this extra demand on my blogging time is not complex; there are many different things that I would like to be spending my spare time pursuing, but I have always found that I work best with a sounding board, someone to talk at or to. I think aloud (or I would if I didn’t get funny looks in the office) and I need to feel that what I’m considering is getting a second opinion, even if it is the silent approval of no-one reading it.
Without this extra layer of imaginary mental support, most projects languish in a conceptual waiting room, lacking the impetus they need to break through and become fully-fledged ‘projects’; so, with nobody else around to fill the role, my blog will become my silent partner in all creative endeavours, tacitly nodding at all my good ideas, mutely nixing the bad ones, and generally playing the role of super-ego.
Plus I had always intended that the site would encompass more than just boring personal stuff and web standards – in fact it was part of the inspiration for the name of the site – so it is an entirely natural evolutionary step to take.
So, what sort of thing will be found filed under ‘Projects’ at The Watchmaker Project?
Projects-a-go-go
As hinted at by the screenshot above, getting back into creating music is likely to be a big part of this; since a few experiments with eJay several years ago, I have barely touched the music-related tools and programmes I have, but this will change. Expect acoustic electronica with perhaps a little big-beat thrown in here and there.
Aside from the tunage, the other as-yet untapped aspect of my creative side (as long time readers may remember) is writing; I’ll be capturing new thoughts and developments on the motley selection of stories rolling around in my head, and also linking to other writers’ resource sites when I find them… and of course, there is NaNoWriMo 2006 to prepare for.
And, as I’ve said many times before, I must take more photographs; as well as the potential for photo projects (I like the idea of 26 Things a lot) there will also be a Flickr feed on the new site. Finally, Michael Green’s Triplux blog is a great source of project ideas, even if most require a little more spare time and dedication than I think I can manage!
Anyway, that’s the basic idea. Perhaps it will attract a few more visitors with such an expansion of scope; probably not, though. The key measure of success will be how many projects I can remove from the site because they are completed.
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Previously: TracksLife
Next: One more day
Comments
- Andy Saxton
- 2401 days ago
- From the little I can see the redesign is looking nice Matt.
Will look out for the new design on the reboot, looks like a great idea to add projects to the blog. - #2
- Matthew Pennell
- 2400 days ago
- Cheers, guys – the Reboot deadline is looming large now, and my to-do list isn’t getting any shorter (must… stop… adding… items…) ;)
- #3
- Derek Featherstone
- 2399 days ago
- If your musical talent is as good as your talent for finding good Chinese food and herding what must have seemed like a group of cats, then I bet it’ll be awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing what tricks you’ve got up your sleeve for the reboot…
Cheers,
Derek. - #4
- Matthew Pennell
- 2399 days ago
- Thanks, Derek – I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of reaction I’ll get when this all comes to fruition (both the music and the redesign).
- #5
- iZone Design
- 2310 days ago
- I love this design, very fresh. Keep up the good work and good luck :D
Also best of luck with the music :D - #7
The design is looking quite unique as well, that’s always a good was to get the attention in the first place.
As for my reboot, we I have a huge task over the half-term break from college. I haven’t even started to try and implement the new version with my cms yet. Don’t know where to start, it’s all in the right mess and I’m too busy with work elsewhere.
Mission Impossible 3.