Prodrivel

As if it wasn’t enough that a link is plastered at the bottom of every post and the About Prodrivel page is littered with mentions, but this is the first time BlogF1 will be mentioned in this newly-created personal blog of mine. I thought I did quite well to resist temptation until the sixth post, but in truth, Prodrivel is not about BlogF1, it’s just that they’re authored by the same person. So why start talking about my other home now?

The truth of the matter is that BlogF1 has suffered recently, and when I realised that it was suffering I posted an explanation - an explanation which, by the way, went down very well and garnered many understanding comments, emails and thoughts. However, since then I have been having difficulty getting back into it. I’ve even stopped taking my notepad up to bed with me, and that’s a bad sign if ever there was one. And once I’ve stopped writing and broken the momentum, I find it hard to get back into the the swing of things. The constant analysing of news stories and quotes, the research and the thrill of the race; they all fall off the wagon and trying to pick these pieces up again, all at once, is tricky.

I had many things I was meant to do in August; my long list that I have taped to the wall doesn’t have many ‘ticks’ on it. Added to the fact that I should have plenty of time right now as Formula One - the subject of the site - is on its summer break, I really should have more done. In trying to work out why I haven’t hauled myself back onto the cart I realised that maybe some of the passion has left recently. And I don’t mean F1-passion, I mean blogging-passion.

Passion is an important part of writing in my opinion. Without it, little feeling or emotion comes through in the work. Although these are just words on a page, the structure and emphasis in a post need something extra to bring the words off the page and into the reader’s mind. They need to trigger the neurons and spark some sort of response; agreement, disagreement, added thoughts or some kind of opinion. Without passion, these elements can cease to exist for the reader. At this point, the writing is almost worthless.

I’m not going to list various methods people use to ignite their flare for writing - this is not that type of site and I believe it to be a personal thing - but I will mention one thing that happened earlier today that got me a little excited again. It happened completely by chance and sucked up an hour of my day, but at the time I needed distraction and what I took part in was perfect.

I had just returned home from work (even though I’m on holiday, don’t ask) and checked my feed reader to see if anything new had been published, and lo-and-behold, Sidepodcast (another Formula One related website and podcast) were trying something new. Always intrigued by what they get up to, I headed over to the site and started reading.

The guys were producing their seventy-third show, but instead of recording behind closed-doors as they usually do, this time they had a webcam set up. They were recording live. Although the final show will be edited, it was a great chance to see how Sidepodcast create their shows and to see exactly what they go through each Sunday. As I arrived, Sidepodcast-anchor Christine was just about to record a quote from BlogF1 as part of the show; my timing once again proving impeccable.

Alongside the video and audio the crew also had a live comment box open and many of the site’s fans were out in force, discussing with one another and also with the two hosts in their studio. Needless to say, it was interesting to see, hear and interract with many people who I often see in the comments at BlogF1 and elsewhere around the web. To also get a mention in the podcast was great and to see and hear it happen was kinda special.

From a technical standpoint, I am interested in the way Sidepodcast do their live comments thread, and “me” (the other half of the team) has said it will be published as a plugin to WordPress when the kinks are ironed out. I was also interested in how the podcast was put together, and I now realise just how much editing goes into a show of their’s. But what was the most interesting thing for me…?

Seeing other people passionate about Formula One and their method of publishing, in this case a podcast rather than written words. To see someone else go through a similar process to myself when producing a post was fascinating, especially when they interracted with the viewers over certain things - who knew Honda may have developed a way of practising pitstops without feeling the wrath of the testing limit? I didn’t, but thanks to Sidepodcast and regular commenter Alianora, we may have discovered that this is exactly what they have done.

Today’s experience was unexpected, but very much enjoyable. I learned some things, had some curiosity quelled and will almost certainly take my notepad up to the bedroom later this evening. I cannot promise anything - there is little happening in F1 right now - but for the first time in a while, I don’t think that is so much of a problem anymore. I think it’s too early to say I feel inspired, but I certainly feel better.