A question to all my friends: do you think this is a good idea?

[fpb]

I am thinking of starting two other blogs or communities, one about comics, and the other about my own research. I have a feeling that my LJ ends up being rather like a fruit salad, and what is more, those are the two subjects in which I have an almost-professional interest. Please comment.

Comments

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Fruit salad is good! Fruit salad is fun!

That being said, you could cross-post from your dedicated new blogs.....

[hermoinejean7.livejournal.com]

If you do start a blog for comics, I will definitely get my sister to view it. She'll probably squee to death. <.<

Sir, also, you research Indo-European History, yes? I'd love to read articles on that. =) Indian History is something I have a fairly decent knowledge about, and your observations on that would be a lovely insight.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether we understand each other about "Indo-European". I am interested in the cultures, and in the prehistory in so far as it can be discovered, of the group of peoples who share a common linguistic and cultural origin and are defined as "Indo-European", which include Germanic, Romance, Greek, Slavonic, Albanian, Armenian, Iranic, and Indo-Aryan language groups, plus a number of dead ones. The research this involves begins with comparative mythology and religion (which is why I know a bit more about the Indian epics than the average Western person, though not nearly enough), and would have fairly little to do with Indian history proper - at least no more than with Roman, Greek and other groups.

[hermoinejean7.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did get that. Having read your journal for the last few months, I deciphered that at least to a minute extent, and my answer in the previous comment doesn't change. =) I'm still very interested.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

If that sounded patronizing, I apologize.

[affablestranger.livejournal.com]

I rather like the 'fruit salad' theme you've got going here.

If you do decide to open the other, more specific blogs, then do please cross-post.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Even if the subject is something I'm not familiar with (or maybe that should be especially if the subject,etc.) it's usually an interesting read.

[sanscouronne.livejournal.com]

I agree as well.

[un-crayon-rouge.livejournal.com]

I agree with the previous posters about liking the whole fruit salad concept. That's why I like LiveJournal, you follow (or *friend* or whatever) people, not themes or particular styles. If I had to follow a blog of yours where you just talked about your research, or comics, I'd probably lose interest, and if it were just about political articles and religion and stuff, well, I'd probably run away screaming :-)) But the mixture of it all, plus some fandom, some music, and other assorted stuff, makes you as a person, and you I like and respect, and that's why I read what you post, and get to think about it and challenge my own opinions (even if I seldom actually change them), and occasionally learn things.

So, I think I got sidetracked. Um, yes, fruit salad is a good thing.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I don't expect people to change their minds from reading my views. They probably have taken as long as I have to reach their own views, and their reasons to hold them must have seemed good to them. Therefore, to argue mainly in the hope of convincing someone who disagrees with you is to badly underrate that person's character, their ability to reach conclusions and to stick to what they think is good.

[capnflynn.livejournal.com]

I agree with the others, fruit salad is good!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

That seems to be the common verdict. But I do wish to separate my articles on those two subjects. Actually, I have been thinking about this impulse - I mean my desire to have separate blogs for these two subjects - and I think that my reason may be a bit counter-intuitive. If you go through my archives, you will find that there is really very little on these subjects - even on historical matters, they are widely outnumbered by posts on subjects which I have not actually researched. I find that I publish less than I could and even should on these subjects - last year I did not even mention my short but important study trip to Ceprano and Terracina - and that even restricts the amount of work I do, because I tend to place these things somehow outside "ordinary life" - and I blog about my life. In my flat, for instance, I have one room for living, sleeping and internet-surfing in, and one for study and drawing. It's a strange sort of attitude, but it is instinctive for me.
They sum up my professional expertise and life's work, and if

[capnflynn.livejournal.com]

Hmm, fair point, even if it got truncated. :) And I can understand the impulse, certainly--keep your various subjects of interest in their own separate boxes, so the people who are also interested can follow them, and the people who aren't don't have to be bored by them.