I have transferred this post in its entirety to the New England's History blog. Those who are interested in following the development of the post can find it here.
I made the transfer for several reasons.
The post was taking an enormous amount of time, stopping me posting on other things. This time plus the time I spent on the initial posts on the Commonwealth Government's intervention in the Northern Territory meant that I was not posting on my other blogs. Traffic collapsed as a consequence.
The series does not really belong on this blog which is meant to reflect my broader interests, not just the New England slice. By contrast, on the New England History blog it both fits and also does not matter if I take time to finish posts.
New England's History is my Cinderella blog. It has a very different purpose.
While I would like to think that it will eventually attract readers (there have been just 306 visitors since the first post on 24 November 2006), my primary purpose is to build up a resource that will eventually help all those, however few they may be, who want to study New England history.
I struggle to find the time to do the work necessary to build this blog. The New England slice series made me realise that I have been going about things the wrong way. Because I am not trying to attract readers at this point, I can put up as many incomplete posts as I like.
Neil commented that I should write a text book on New England. Well, I have long wanted to write some books, but struggle to find the time. Part of my reason for blogging in fact is that this is one way of forcing me to find the time to write.
What I should be doing on New England's History is treating the blog as a work in progress device, simply a way of recording thoughts and progress in one key area of my interests. Looking at it in this way, I do not have to worry about just how rough or incomplete the analysis may be. The blog is, after all, a reference device for my own purposes.
If some readers find it interesting and want to become involved, then that is a plus, not an objective.
2 comments:
You should write a textbook, Jim. There is always a space for local history in the Australian History part of the Years 7-10 curriculum -- Sydney High usually did something on Moore Park and Surry Hills, and I even took kids on history walks in the streets around the school myself at times.
I am sure lots of New England schools would be interested.
Except "New England" may be thought of as a "theme"... ;)
Thanks for the comment, Neil. I will use it as part of a fuller post.
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