My poor, neglected little blog. Every day I think, Today’s the day! The day that I’ll finally write that blog post. I don’t know what to write about, but I’ll get a post up, somehow.
Yet it never happens. About once a week I force myself to write something, anything, so as not to neglect my readers, my fans, my adoring public. Ok, that’s going a bit too far. Why don’t I write more often?
Life gets in the way. That’s an easy excuse. We all have jobs and family that keep us from being on our blogs as often as we’d like.
There’s nothing worth writing about. That’s another easy excuse. It’s hard to come up with something witty and original. Being a perfectionist, I have a hard time writing for writing’s sake. Every time I sit down at the computer, I want to write that perfect post. You know the one. It’s the post that leaves you feeling exhilarated when you hit that “publish” button. The one where you eagerly check your stats every hour to see who’s reading it and who has commented on it. The one that you keep going back to so you can re-read it. I want every post to be like that.
I have a hard time writing about the day to day of my life – not because it’s hard to write about, but it bores me. You’d see the same posts, day after day. I don’t write about work, so that cuts out a huge part of my day. I don’t really write too much about my husband and what goes on between us, because he prefers that I keep that a bit more private. And I don’t write about my feelings so much because my husband prefers that I talk to him rather than read how I’m feeling on this blog, so that’s another post idea that won’t really be happening. That leaves two kinds of posts: observations and themed.
Observation posts can be easy to write, if when observing something I immediately write a post in my head then get myself to a computer before the inspiration for it is gone forever. That’s not always easy.
Themed posts, such as my On The Internet or Bedtime Stories posts, can be easy to write but without much in between, they will get boring – as if I have nothing else to say.
I want to offer a bit more of myself in this blog. I’d love for this blog to get little bit bigger (not too big, though), but I just don’t know how to do that right now. I don’t know how to do everything that I want to do.
How do you make your blog what you want while staying firmly planted in real life? What would you like to do with your blog if you could?
Unfortunately, my dear, you cannot have your literary cake and eat it too. If you want the blog to be for “general consumption”, then you have to remember what you write is and can be read by any and all that stop by.
I love your blog though.
kaila
Well that’s why I hold back so much. I sometimes wish I could just put it all out there, but I don’t, and for the same reasons I have a hard time talking about everything. It just doesn’t come out all that easy for me.
I haven’t managed to make mine any bigger….sometimes that’s good, and sometimes it’s bad.
I guess with my blog, I’d just like to find more people I have things in common with and connect. I’d like to hone my writing skills as well, but that’s not likely to happen just in my day-to-day writings. If you figure it out, let me know :)
Well, I’d like to try writing more, which is part of why I’m doing the Bedtime Stories series. Maybe by writing about what I’ve read I’ll sharpen my skills a bit. I’m also thinking of putting some of my older stuff up, some stuff that I wrote in school or old paper journal entries, or at least excerpts as part of a post.
I don’t think you should force yourself to write – it defies the purpose.
Why not start a series on something? It would keep you motivated!
You know, I think about this exact thing all the time. And a few days ago, a writer/author/blogger I admire posted this:
http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/2009/11/to-blog-blahg-or-blargh.html
According to the little quiz, I’m somewhere between Blahg and Blog, and I was glad to know that. Because it let me consider which way I want to go: more Blahg, or more Blog.
I don’t necessarily have an answer to your questions, just sympathy/understanding for your dilemma. I think ultimately we have to be true to ourselves: if it’s not about becoming a superstar, then be genuine, make sure your blog serves YOU first, and the rest will follow. That’s my belief/philosophy, naive as it might be.
(That said, there are certainly social media practices that can help you attract attention and make new connections. BlogHer is one good thing you’re already doing, and incidentally how I found you. Tweeting your links. Using StumbleUpon or Digg. And of course, the most tried & true method: reading and commenting on other blogs.)
@Zhu, I do have the Encyclopedia of Me series going, but it’s a bit hard to find a word for each letter. You are really good at the series posts, and I enjoy reading them!
@Kristan, I followed that link and took the quiz, and I think I too am somewhere between Blahg and Blog. I want to be a Blog, and don’t post as often as I want because I don’t want to turn into a Blahg. And I don’t think your belief/philosophy is naive at all – if we can’t enjoy our own blogs and be true to ourselves, then we have no business being here!
I am a quality over quantity person. If I’m not feeling inspired, I simply don’t write for a couple days. Of course when those days turn into weeks, that’s the problem.
Ah yes, the perils of being a perfectionist. Makes keeping the blog updated tough.
Thanks for visiting my blog, Jon!