When you compare that against the results of the recent Harris Interactive poll you see that 71% of US adults have never heard of RSS. 46% think tagging is something you play with your kids. And although 79% of US adults are “aware” of blogs, only 17% typically read them. (Which means even fewer are actually blogging.)

Don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly believe in the promotional power of business blogs and other new media tools. And Darren is right when he says that many bloggers get started and fizzle out due to lack of planning.

But to think that actual living bloggers are entering the blogsphere at a rate of 1 per second is pie in the sky! Believing that is just not possible when you do statistical analysis across multiple surveys.

Being personal friends with several top internet marketers and SEO specialists making $5k – $10k per day, I can assure you that most of those “new blogs” are being created by automated software. Whether it’s blog-and-ping for “grey hat” SEO. Or Pumping out thousands of “black hat” splogs to make pennies per site per day on adwords.

Factor in that many of these previously “elite” methods for SEO are now trickling down to the mid/lower level internet marketers, and you’re getting a lot more abuse of RSS and blogs.

The New Media marketplace is expanding rapidly. But let’s make sure to keep things accurate and in perspective. Otherwise bloggers will end up losing credibility just like the off-line “mass” drive-by media.

One of your tips triggered a blog I plan to do on mental tips that may help writers to get past mental blog blocks… or at least create a further discussion on that one. Thanks for the excellent post….

Another thing that happens is SUMMER ENDS. Right now, Summer has begun. I have trouble juggling my time no matter what it seems. Like since it’s been rainy and cold, I’ve neglected going out. But I need fresh air and exercise, so will blogging suffer soon? (I’m heading out for an appointment, tomorrow.)

I seem to obsess over one project at a time. I could use one or two days on each blog, a week, it seems. But I would find it hard to post so much to one blog at once to cover everything.

Today I even wasted a lot of time, because of that pingomatic being down issue!

Since I’m going out, tomorrow, I had to catch up somewhat late into tonight. :-(

I think I can sometimes get by on six hours of sleep! Uh-oh.

The other thing that affected my blogging was I has all the time in the world to begin with (being unmenployed), but this year I have very little spare time (being a student).

All that said, I am contracted and paid to write for another blog (which takes up several hours a week), so I haven’t totally fallen from the blogosphere, it’s just my own blogs that have. For now.

One thing I have been working on to regain momentum is changing when I write.

Originally I wrote mostly in the mornings and late at night. But the mornings went out the window when I started studying. And by the night I no longer had the energy or time.

Now I am getting up at 6am (which initially wasn’t easy) and attempting/intending to blog then. Some homework deadlines have encroached on that but I have been a little more successful writing in the early morning before school. So very slowly I am getting the wheels back on.

I really liked Renee’s suggestion about doing all the work but not going live until you’ve tested your enthusiasm.

One other thing that can help get any thing moving, is make a public statement of intent. I have been working on a short novel for 2 years, and at the end of Feb, declared on a writer’s blog I would get up at 6am each day and write for an hour. One month later I’d written 30,000 words and finished the first draft.

The “pressure’ of that public committment got me going.

Maybe Darren you could start a post here where people can make little declarations like that (realistic ones though!)

My only problem is that I have several Blogs and websites, and it’s not easy to update everything everyday.

One additional reason I think you can consider is the change of direction of the blog as it goes on.

It’s something I’ve been facing myself on Life Coaches Blog. The original started out as a collaboration between a few friends and myself, however due to various reasons the others left and it’s mainly me now, so I’ve been wondering what to do about the ’s’ at the end of Coaches.

And as my writing and thinking matures through blogging, I realized my direction and focus has as well. Life Coaches sounds very ‘top-down’; I’m the coach, you’re the coachee, while now I realize I want to be more ’side-by-side’, as a fellow explorer along this journey.

I wonder if you or anyone else has encountered this same changing of direction and if you could help shed some light on it?

I experienced this last year about this time. Blogging was new to me and I a lot of ideas but very little focus. I started a lot of projects but got spread too thin.

This year my approach is a little different. I have two or three goals, that I’ve written down, for my summer blogging. As I think of ideas for other blogs I’m writing them down for future blog projects but not starting them right now.

Hopefully that helps me stay focused.

Thou shall not worry if thy blog is original. Built like a steakhouse, but handles like a bistro. No worries here on the excess competition, I havent found a blog even a tad similar to my own.