Eking out an online presence

I've only been blogging for about a year and a half, but sometimes it seems an eternity. I've learned that a blog presence is only noteworthy if you continue to punch out meaningful postings. Not being a writer by trade, I'm often faced with a cruel lack of original content. After all, how many ways can you re-hash an opinion on the Ground Zero Mosque or on Sarah Palin's latest speech when those topics are covered over and over by a large contingent in the blogosphere?

The biggest challenge is in determining what I want my presence to be about. I've covered a very wide range of topics over the last year and a half, but haven't really hit on a unique theme. Although there are countless examples to emulate, I still search for a unique train of thought that can encompass all my postings. Perhaps I'm over-thinking things and only need to post from the heart, as I've often been advised to do.

Although I do contribute to a number of other blogs on occasion, I'm still trying to define myself through my own material. There are a number of bloggers that I've followed for years that I look to for inspiration. They include Glenn Reynolds, Ed Morrissey, Michelle Malkin and Erick Erickson. Since joining the Twitterverse a few years ago, I've also added a whole host of other bloggers that leverage Twitter with their blogs, including Stacy McCain (rsmccain), Melissa Clouthier (MelissaTweets) and Tabitha Hale (pinkelephantpun).

So what do these bloggers suggest about my own presence online? Quite simply, they all say "be there and be there often". Gulp, that's something that runs counter to my normal state of affairs: going to my job, maintaining my domain (I'm about to fire my 16 year-old son for skipping his mowing job for the last two weeks), and catching up on all the news online, in the hopes that I'll find something that inspires me to write. Unfortunately, we have now crossed into football season, so my Friday nights are spent watching my son's high school football team, watching my wife's college team on Saturday (University of Texas), and participating in an NFL pool on Sundays.

I've only missed a handful of my son's football games since he started playing when he was an 8 year-old and I've been a college football fan since, well, college, and a NFL fan since before I can remember. I've been a political-news junkie since I started listening to Rush Limbaugh in the eighties and I'm now engaged in learning all about the political debate of the day. I'm also an ardent follower of all things Sarah Palin and haven't been moved by any national political figure since Ronald Reagan.

So, how do I find time to post anything on my blog? I'm often reminded of the Nike commercial from several years ago: Just Do It!