I fear I may be having a minor crisis of conviction.

When I say "minor", in actual fact, I mean: paralysing.

Do you ever feel like you're in critical information overload...?

Is it feasible to say that the creative process can be crippled by an excess of stimulus? A glut of facts, news, reviews, opinions, trivia...?

God help me I'm drowning in it. Verily, I tell you.

Is it just me, or does anybody else find it weird that in this society it is possible to distract yourself every. single. second. of. the. day.

Worse yet, it is expected.

Sometimes I can't hear myself for the static.

And I can't help the nagging feeling that by blogging I am merely adding to the static. Is it irresponsible? Is it pure narcissm?

Why do I do it?

I seem to have misplaced my blogging raison d'être.

(Luckily for me, however, there are a myriad of excellent bloggers out there who have not lost their mojo. There is a steadily growing number of bloggers whose work I read faithfully. It has become part of my daily routine, along with the morning coffee and checking out the major magazines and newspapers).

What is it that draws us to blogging? What is it that draws us to read others' blogs? It is virtually impossible to define blogs in general - they can be so many different things: journals, exercises in creative writing, opinions, essays - so what is it, exactly, that draws us back again and again?

Is it the fact that each blog has it's own distinct personality - ie, the personality of the author? (Give me a blog over a dry, antiseptic newspaper article any day, for example).

Is it the fact that each and every blogger is chronicling their struggle with the human condition, in their own unique and individual way? There can be a very real sense of connection as we, as readers, recognise and/or sympathise with another writer's particular observations.

Blogs are also singular in the way that they encourage an ongoing dialogue. The writer can (and often does) get instant feedback from their readers. (Or reader, as the case may be. Thanks Mum).

There is, however, a certain amount of self-absorption that occurs with the act of blogging. How do you overcome this? How do you transform it?

How do I shake the feeling that I'm merely one of the seething hordes longing to be discovered and transported to riches and fame?

The good doctors over at SC&A published an excellent and thought provoking article by a Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, entitled "The Academy Awards: When Court Jesters Become Kings" (I know it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but bear with me).