Blogging

Looking Ahead

/ Christopher / 1 Comment

The last time I wrote something on this blog I admitted that my desire, or more accurately my drive to write had diminished. Obviously, based on the timestamps, that problem still persists. Over the weekend I realized that my lack of initiative here has negatively impacted my productivity where it matters most – my professional career. I never would have guessed that this silly little (sometimes about) diabetes blog would be responsible for generating and maintaining the creative juices that flow through most of my online persona. And that those creative juices are the fuel that power the rest of my professional work throughout the day. But here we are.

As my time, energy, and focus are required elsewhere, the urge to find something to post on this space has declined. For the longest time I felt obligated to maintain some kind of illusion that I was a reliable beacon for the diabetes community evidenced by a new post every weekday. Even if that meant sharing a cat picture and writing 12 words underneath it, you could count on me.

To an extent, this can no longer be the case.

I’m not leaving. But I can’t pretend to be the diabetes advocate I was last week, last month, or last year. I just can’t. This means that I have to be more judicious with my time, and that ultimately means this blog cannot function as it has in the past.

So, when I have something to say, I’ll say it – here. And when I say it, I’ll do my best to make it worth your time to read. But I won’t be here every day. And I’m going to be okay with that.

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I’ve Got Nothing

/ Christopher / 4 Comments

Yesterday was the first time I shared something on this blog in almost three weeks.

Ordinarily I’d quickly put up a bunch of back-dated content to fill out the illusion that I’m publishing something here every day. But that’s not the truth. That’s not me. At least right now it’s not.

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Mainstream Coverage

/ Christopher / 2 Comments

Is it bad that I get excited at the mere sight of diabetes coverage in more mainstream outlets that simply “get it right”? It doesn’t matter what they’re talking about, but the simple idea that the topic of diabetes is reaching eyeballs of the un, or underinformed, makes me happy.

Today a few of my friends shared this article from NPR asking why insulin is so expensive. Last year this article about Sierra Sandison made a number of rounds across the Internet. Remember that dominatrix lady from CSI who also had type 1 diabetes? Maybe that was just me.

I suppose it’s telling that any factual coverage is enough for me, but we have to start somewhere, right?

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After the #dblogcheck Dust Settles

/ Christopher / Leave a comment

I’d like to thank everyone who participated in #dblogcheck on Tuesday. Seeing all the comments on every blog I visited put a huge smile on my face.

I noticed a few comments about “missing” the day or not being able to get as many posts as intended. That’s okay, folks. The idea behind the day is to rekindle the community building fire and remind everyone out there that you are not alone. We’ve never needed a day for commenting, but rallying people behind a cause (even one as silly as this) makes the whole concept a bit easier to understand and execute.

Of course, taking the time to comment on every single diabetes blog post every single day is not a sustainable effort. There’s too many of us. That’s okay. My hope is that coming out of a self-imposed comment on everything day establishes some sort of routine that results in commenting a little more often than you did the day before.

So often we go through our lives focusing on the negative or simply not recognizing the positive. How often do you make a priority of leaving a positive review of something on Amazon or Yelp? How much more likely are you to leave a review if it’s going to be negative? How much more likely are you to tell Twitter or Facebook about a bad experience you had instead of a good one? I believe that commenting on these blog posts makes everyone feel better. Raising the collective spirit of the diabetes community is a goal all of us should have, regardless of how we achieve it. Considering how easily diabetes can break each of us down as individuals, walking away with any amount of positivity is going to take a group effort.

So thank you to all of you who participated. If you didn’t get to everything on Tuesday, that’s okay. Maybe set a goal to get to all of the posts by the end of the week? Maybe set a new goal to comment on at least one diabetes blog each week day? Maybe it only has to be one comment a week? I’m saying this in part to give each of you an idea as to how you might lift the spirit of the diabetes community, and also because I need to be better about commenting in general, too. I’m not immune to any of the observations I’ve made here. If we all do a little better, great things are possible.

Here’s a cat picture to balance you out.

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Puzzling. #catlife

A post shared by Christopher Snider (@iam_spartacus) on

Let’s Bring Back #dblogcheck

/ Christopher / 14 Comments

After recent comments about the ever-changing community, and last night’s #dsma chat about communication, the idea of bringing back #dblogcheck popped up.

For those of you just joining us, #dblogcheck was an idea I had a couple of years ago that, for a single day, encouraged everyone to leave a comment on every diabetes blog post you read. The motivation behind this was not for pageviews or notoriety, but community. So often it feels like we’re standing on our little social media platforms shouting into the void, wondering if anyone is paying attention.

Of course the reality is that the Internet is made up of a diverse range of interactions. From the hyper connected curators, to the on-the-nose news sharers, to the social butterflies that say hi to everyone, to the lurkers who are paying attention but choose not to say much. #dblogcheck is an opportunity for all of us to come up, look around, and embrace the diabetes community.

Image (linked) from giphy.com

So, I’m nominating Tuesday, March 10 as our next #dblogcheck.

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Here’s a Thing I Wrote for Symplur

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This one looks at how different patient communities approach the new year, to what extent goals and resolutions are shared, and what makes for an open conversation among these communities.

Here’s a snippet.

While the how much question is worth considering as you engage this data, I think it’s equally important to look at the how. How were these communities prompted to engage with the topic of goals and resolutions? How well did those prompts foster a conversation among their respective communities? How might we evaluate the different approaches to this topic and find the optimal way to encourage goal setting and sharing?

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