I’ve failed to realize that I totally missed announcing my 100th post! Which was made last week. So this is post #101, and I’d like to take this opportunity to make heads or tails of where I’m going with this blog.
Naturally, this isn’t my first blog. I’ve been blogging since 2003 (DJ, the alternative LJ, doesn’t count) and to this day, this isn’t my only blog. Oftentimes, I feel like I’m spreading myself thin, which isn’t far from the truth. But being that I have such various interests, and prefer organization and categories versus a hodge-podge website of bacchanalia, I keep everything separate. Writing is my favorite niche, of course, and that is where this blog will remain.
I’m in no way prolific when it comes to quantity. I don’t particularly want this blog to be about my personal life — which if that were the case, there would be many more posts here than I have now. More posts is a good thing. Yet, I consider this my “professional” space, something clean without a lot of extra baggage. But in keeping it sterile, I don’t blog nearly as much as I’d like to, and most of the time, I wish I had more to say when it comes to advice. Much of it has been said already, anyway.
I try to offer unique content here, with a personal touch of opinion to keep this from becoming a cut-and-dry writing tips site. But I think I stifle myself because of my desire to keep this place professional. Which drastically cuts down the amount of blogging I do. Because I fear being judged, criticized, and all that good stuff that comes from offering an opinion.
Basically, I’m rather torn. I blog because I like to help people. I like to make them laugh. I enjoy sarcasm and cynicism, and I hope my readers feel the same. I blog to get things off my chest, and I enjoy connecting and networking with others that share similar interests.
Do I add more personal topics in here, like my bulletjournaling, reading lists, etc? Or do I keep it strictly about writing tips?
How do you decide how much and what kind of content to put in your blog?
ellDimensional 
I aim to keep my content topics consistent, which keeps my audience steady. I can’t blog about books one day & then blog about knitting the next. Readers crave consistency on a blog, so I focus on no more than two aspects: books and parenting…sometimes a connected post between the two works well.
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Thank you for your encouragement! You made a great tip. I try to keep all my posts here relevant and connected to the craft of writing. I also prefer consistency over random posts about every topic under the sun (unless I’m genuinely interested in what the blogger is about.) I want my visitors to search out writing tips and find something helpful here.
My fear is that I’m not personable enough — I read other blogs where it really feels like you and the blogger are friends. I guess that’s what they call “voice,” and it’s something I’m trying to work on.
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I also have the same difficulty with deciding what to blog about.
I’ve always wanted to run a mag and my first blog was more to share what I would write for mags, so it tends to be eclectic. But I do need to present a more professional look to it to make my writing more easily found.
My follows don’t expect me to be consistent, because I’ve never been so with my first blog, but it also means I have fewer than average followers, though more visitors from search engines.
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Good point about how your followers are affected by consistency.
And presentation is half the struggle of blogging! I’m still unhappy with my page’s layout (ie I’ll be changing it the next opportunity I get!) and tags/categories can definitely be useful if you write about a variety of topics. It’s making sure that the reader knows they can navigate and see all their options that’s the tough part! I used to create my own websites back in the day, but this blogging platform is much different, nevermind that graphic design is constantly changing.
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Yes, site styles are changing all the time, and often I find one I really like, only to realise that it doesn’t always serve my needs best — like that evening dress!
And I agree whole-heartedly about navigation, especially if you have lots of categories or run occasional features. Definitely something worth experimenting with!
Can’t wait to see your blogs new look 🙂
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If I put personal stuff on my blog, I’d write a lot more, but it would be very boring! So I try to stay away from personal stories unless I can make it of interest to others. I also find that blogs about only one topic tend to get more hits over time than if the blog’s topics are scattered and random. (But I know pageviews/likes aren’t everyone’s goal!)
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Not boring at all! I feel the same way as yourself actually, which is why I don’t blog about personal stories either (anymore.) But in taking a step back, we probably feel that way because we find our own lives to be mundane or uninteresting to the public. But in my reflecting that your “personal” stuff would be interesting to me disproves any truth behind our internal sentiments about ourselves. (:
Thanks for your observations! Until this blog, I had an opinion/politics/art blog and honestly, the only people who cared about it were people I knew! So this is my first “topic-specific” blog and it has a special place with me. I appreciate likes/comments merely for the fact that there’s a 50% chance they found my post helpful in some way!
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I agree that others find our personal lives more interesting than we ourselves do. I always find myself more interested in personal stories than in more generic stuff, but I guess I never thought anyone else might find my personal stuff interesting.
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Funny, I’ve been thinking about my blog lately, too. Mostly because I’ve created quite an aggressive blogging schedule over the past year or so… but now, because of a few changes to life offline, I no longer have the time to maintain that schedule. So I’m going to limit myself to twice a week and be more selective about what I post (writing tips and some reading bits from now on). So I sort of know how you feel, for different reasons.
Back to your blogging question: I haven’t been following you that long, but I did like your blog posts on modern colloquialisms in fantasy lit and character development. Both had very different tones: one was informative, the other more of a rant (and one I completely agreed) with good information to back up your points. If you want to continue this approach (writing and relation topics, balancing advice and sarcasm), I’d be a happy reader.
Hope this helps in some way!
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Thank you so much for your lovely words! I love any blog that has to do with the craft of writing, but it really is all about voice. And I’ve found my favorite blog posts to be dripping with sarcasm, but yet still have something helpful to offer. It does feel great to rant (: But I don’t want my blog to become a satire. I believe that people tend to approach blogs from a different perspective. It needs to hold the readers attention, or else they are going to group you into just another “yawn/ho-hum” article.
I really admire the folks (you included) who can manage to blog more than once a week! I, too, have only been a recent follower of yours, and your content is great and really helpful *rushes over to the Reader to catch up* But I totally understand about life offline. Blogging is enjoyable and a great tool to wield, but life outside of the internet takes more precedence than blogging. I try and try to get ahead of my blogging schedule but it has yet to happen for me.
So much writing to do, so little time!
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I know what you mean about not wanting your blog to become a satire because of its approach. It’s just a matter of finding the right balance in tone. You’ve done a good job of that so far, IMO. So, keep doing what you’ve been doing while being mindful of what you don’t want your blog to become. 😉
Awww, thanks, Jessica. 🙂 And hey, we can only blog when we have time for it, right? Like you said, real life (and novel-writing, too!) needs to come before online life.
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I totally feel the same way. I’ve been blogging since I was like 11 (23 now) and I have not once been able to keep one going before my ideas start splintering. Googling “How to Start a Blog” doesn’t help because they tell you to keep things streamlined for your readers. I feel like I start out with an idea for a topic for my blog, but then I start wanting to use the space to talk about what matters, or what I think might help someone. Like my current blog, for instance, was supposed to be about my time in engineering school, but now it’s summer break and I’m trying to write a novel. So that what I blog about now. I’m trying to ignore the urge to try to be somebody on here and just blog for me and maybe find a community. I don’t know, I like your blog a lot though and I like bullet journaling, humor, and all of the things. Just keep doing you! Congratulations on your 100th post! 🙂
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Thank you for your wonderful comment!
It’s okay if your blog ends up morphing into a totally different topic. Chances are, a lot of your most recent readers won’t be looking back at your earlier posts. Just make the best use of WordPress’ categories and tags and viewers will find what they need. But personally, I think a blog with a smattering of personal posts, along with the helpful articles, is the best formula. Shows the readers that you’re a living, breathing individual!
Once a writer, always a writer (; I’m positive your current blog will consistently remain about writing, with a few alternate topics to boot. The how-to articles you want to showcase, I’d recommend sharing it around so as to get some publicity (: Keep the personal posts on the blog without advertising them (they’re for your subscribers! Or share them — I won’t tell ya what to do!) I love to help people/readers as well, and I’m grateful for your comment! Thank you again for your encouragement!
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I’m all over the place but that’s who I am as a person. I love your posts. I find them encouraging and funny. I get a buzz of joy when I see your name in my inbox telling me I have a new post of yours to read. I have to curtail my desire to comment on ALL of your posts.
Do whatever you feel is right. I don’t like having too many personal details in mine. I think this blog is personal enough at the moment. I can get a sense of who you are, without needing the added details. If that makes sense.
Congrats on reaching 100 😀
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