Today, just after being chided by my editor for not turning in a couple of articles that are somewhat overdue (aw, just a couple of weeks! or months!), I see something pertinent up at Joi Ito’s Web.

First he quotes Steve Covell who wrote to Ernie the Attorney:

OK, a couple of weeks ago I knew nada about the subject of blogs. Here is my take on the 3 stages of blogging:

1) There must be something to blogs because so many people are into it, but I don’t have a clue.

2) OK, it does seem kind of cool and there is much, much more to it than I expected. I just don’t see any really practical applications.

3) Oh my God, the things I can do with this are coming to me faster than I can keep up with.

Then, he adds a fourth stage:

Actually, there is at least another stage:

4) Oh, no. I’m addicted to blogging…

You are addicted to blogging if you answer “yes” to at least 3 of the following questions:

Do you think about everything in terms of whether it will make a good blog entry?

Do you keep your computer in standby mode beside your bed and wake up at 2am to blog?

Do you skip lunch and blog instead?

Do you accept speaking engagements or make travel decisions based on whether they will make good blog material?

Do you have your RSS newsreader open during meetings and keep hitting “refresh”?

Do you sit around trying to figure out how you can redesign your job so you can blog more?

Do you think blogs will suddenly cause an emergent democracy and save the world?

This sounds awfully familiar. Anyway, I promise to start writing my articles just after next refresh…