Trollheart

2. Why should I even want to write a music journal?

If you've asked yourself the question, it's quite possible that there is no answer that will properly convince you this is the thing to do. Most people start their journals a) because the facility is there, b) because they've read other people's journals and think they can/want to do better or as good as those they've read and c) they have a genuine desire to discuss their music and bring it to perhaps a new audience. If none of these fits, then you writing a journal may not be for you.

But that of course does not mean you can't start one. As long as your request is approved by the mods, you're good to go. But if you feel you may be making a mistake, you owe it to yourself, and your potential readers, to think it through again before committing.

2a: Gimme one good reason...

There are other reasons why people begin these, and if any of these sound like you, then again, they're probably the wrong reasons.

1. You want to show off your musical knowledge and feel superior to others
2. You want to have a great number of views and/or comments on your journal
3. You want to argue with people
4. You're kind of half-interested, but suspect it may be a passing thing
5. You are not a good writer
6. You are not a good listener.

The last two are very important. Of course, no-one is saying you have to be Shakespeare or Tennyson, but as outlined in the intro to this thread earlier, you need to at least have a basic grasp of written English. Like many forums, using “txt spk” is frowned upon here. A sentence that goes ”U hav 2 listen 2 this album it's gr8!” will not attract readers. People here want to, generally, read properly written sentences and pieces, and while we'll all throw in the odd smiley or lol or whatever, it doesn't characterise our writing. You need to be able to spell, use punctuation and grammar and have a reasonable idea of how sentences and paragraphs are constructed. One paragraph, for instance, that runs on for forty lines is hard reading, and needs to be broken into two or more in order for people to be able to easily digest its content. If you can't understand and legislate for that, you need to work on your writing a bit more.

But none of the above matters if you're not a good listener. A lot of the time, people will comment on what you have written; in fact, this is one of the main aims of a journal, to get people talking and discussing what you've created. But if you refuse to take their points on board you're missing the point yourself. Constructive criticism has always been, and always will be, a great aid to any writer. You may think what you have written is great, but if someone points something out to you in your writing that is taking from the piece, you need to look at that and decide if they're right (they may not be) and if so, adjust your writing accordingly.

The best part of writing a journal is hearing what others think of it --- good or bad --- and engaging in discussion with them on certain subjects you both have an interest in. If people comment, and you ignore or put down their comments, they are unlikely to do so again, except perhaps in retaliation, which is not what this forum is all about. So you need to listen to what people say about your writing, even if you don't agree with it. Analyse their comments and decide if they have merit, and remember to always thank people for leaving a comment, as they are under no obligation whatever to do so.

2b: Gimme one bad reason...

But going back to the other possibilities, the “bad reasons” for starting, or thinking of starting a journal. If you're hoping to feel superior and show off your musical knowledge, think again: there are people here who could run rings around you, and me, in terms of what they know about music. Many are musicians, many have had experience of far more genres than either of us could ever even imagine (Grindcore?), so you're unlikely to be able to trump them. Even if you can, who wants to read the writings of someone who just wants to prove him or herself better than them? So cut that out for a reason to begin a journal.

Comments and views? Well, views will depend obviously on how interesting you make your journal and how often you update it, and without question there's a great feeling as you watch the views increase. It means people are reading, possibly regularly, though of course that can only be proved by comments left. But as a general rule, if you have a few hundred views minimum, you must have a decent amount of people “tuning in” reasonably regularly. As for comments, well this is totally outside your control, and people will comment only as and when they feel they have to, or want to. Despite many invitations over the last year for more people to comment on my journal, I would still say they make up less than one percent of the posts in my journal, and most of them are from the same few people.

Don't be discouraged if you don't get comments on your journal. You may not. It doesn't mean people aren't reading: as I said, the amount of views tell you that. But think about all the times you read posts in threads on various forums: did you always reply? There are traditionally only a small percentage of people who actively post in groups, especially on the threads of others. Watch your view count, that's how you'll know if you're being successful or not.

Now, if you're setting up your journal in order to argue with people and debate their point of view, that's also not a good idea. Discussion is of course the lifeblood of any forum, argument can be its downfall. Of course you can debate and disagree, but only as a part of your journal, not its raison d'etre. No-one likes to be shouted down, and even the most argumentative among us like to just kickback and read journals some times, so make sure that if you do start a journal that it's a place of relative calm and serenity.

The last reason is probably one of the worst. If you start a journal, write for a few days or weeks and then lose interest it will invariably move down the list into the realms of obscurity, as others who update more regularly push your journal down the line. Like a “cob web site”, no-one really wants to read a journal that hasn't been updated in months (unless it's gained a reputation and people are just waiting eagerly for the next posting) and doesn't look likely to be, so before you take on what can be quite a committment, be sure this is what you want to do. No-one is saying you have to update every day, as I'll explain in the next post, but some sort of regularity, at least as you're starting out and “trying to make your mark”, as it were, is essential.

Remember, a music journal is not just for Christmas. Or something.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018