So as I re-dedicate myself to blogging, I find myself thinking about the whys, wherefores, and purpose of said blog. Because I started this one absent a strategy. And that really isn't like me. I mean, Julie Powell had her food blog, Ariana Huffington has her political blog, mommies have their mommy-blogs, but this is just a random thought blog. Not focused. Not for a particular audience. In fact, any thought I've given to "strategy" has been more along the lines of what I should stay away from:
Politics: I love to read political blogs, and love to read-out-loud to friends and family my favorite columnists. But my political views are not necessarily compatible with the interests of my business, and so I conclude they should stay private.
Work: Sort of the same boundary issue. Would never feel comfortable dishing out the gossip, peculiarities, etc. of work. In fact, my recent exposure to the social media listening platforms like Radian 6, has taught me not to even mention my company's NAME when I talk about work, lest my blog show up in lots of people's "rivers of news."
Daily activity: Facebook has enough anecdotes of daily life. In the vast majority of cases posts don't need to be expanded into full blogs. (My last story about mice being a possible exception). I mean, if I was a mommy of young kids who were spouting bizarre and profound thoughts on a regular basis I could see a daily life blog being fun. But I'm an empty-nester, and what I do is work, work-out, go to movies, read books, travel, and eat far too many meals at restaurants. Not spellbinding topics for a blog, especially when someone could go to Rotten Tomatoes, Goodreads, Zagat, etc. for much more robust content on the movies, books, restaurants, etc.
Travel might be an interesting focus, and like always, this year will bring a lot of travel, but not much going on there till the end of February. On the docket: San Jose, Beaver Creek, Atlanta, St. Pete to see Steph, Philly for Colin's graduation from law school, Ten Mile with Terri and Mike over July 4, New York for business, plus many more as yet identified trips.
But I also don't want to lose my outlet for random musings. Lyrics, daily happenings, ironies. So here's what I'm thinking. I keep LyricGirl for the ad-hoc, and create separate blogs for specific topics - thinking travel stories and book reviews, for two.
Thoughts?
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Thoughts? Don't overthink it. Just enjoy it as you are a writer at heart.
ReplyDeleteAfter thinking about it for another day, I think you should tell the medicine story when we took the private plane to the funeral in South Georgia.
ReplyDeleteOr I could tell is on my Blog!
Been thinking of this myself as I prepare to launch into the blog-o-sphere. We're writers. We must write. Still, I admit I did worry that unlike the journals we used to scrawl in privately, these ejournals may be self-indulgent and narcissistic. I've come to the conclusion that the antecdote to that is to write something that's worth a damn! (BTW: you're doing just fine in that area.)
ReplyDeleteI've had the same thought when pondering (and then rejecting as part of my stress management plan) the idea of blogging. While I think the idea of focused topic blogs would yield larger readership and search optimization, the blogs I read regularly are because I like the writing and the "characters" and the unique blend of topics that are part of their lives. By the way, there are a lot of mommy blogs but not as many empty nester ones that I've seen. Wouldn't it be interesting lifestyle content to talk about those unique lifestage issues (whether to stay in your home or get a downtown loft, childless travel, how to stay in touch with grown children, sandwich generation dilemmas). Would love to hear your thoughts on things that look back while looking forward. Just a thought!
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