I’m so cool I broke one of those rules. Never write super long titles. But you know what? Listening to others without thinking about your personality can be a big waste of time. Let me explain.
I’ve talked about blogging before (it has an entire category devoted to it, after all), but it’s almost always been bullshit I repeated from elsewhere in the blog-iverse. Until recently, I had no clue what was expected out of me when it comes to blogging, much less what I expect from my blog itself. I censored myself, avoided certain puns because everyone hates puns, right? Or I wouldn’t use my actual, rather quirky and slightly awkward voice in posts. How did it all start?
First, I tried to avoid bolding and lists because that’s a cheap gimmick, right? I want to be the best, most authentic writer in North America, so I should totally avoid the things that make reading blogs a lot easier for me. This makes total sense.
Then I got silly and never posted things I cared about aside from writing. Eventually I broke this habit, but if you ever scrounge up my old blog (not linking it, not linking it, newp, you can’t make me) you’ll see how flat and hollow a lot of the early posts were. Writing is my passion, yes, but it’s also something A LOT of other writers talk about. My two cents, at this point, isn’t valuable at all because I’m so inexperienced. So instead I became a parrot and repeated what other, more successful people said.
Basically, never repeat what someone else says just to conform to a blogging standard. If you don’t have much of an opinion, don’t post about it. If you don’t want to use bolding in a post, don’t. If you want to complain all day long, go for it — just don’t expect people to constantly listen.
In my humble opinion, unless you’re experienced in a field, find a couple of topics that interest you and research them. Think about your topics, mull them over a little, and then post. It doesn’t have to always be SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME, but you do need to give people a reason to stay interested.
Showing your unique personality helps, but don’t be a jerk. No one likes a jerk.
Also, stressing too much over a blog makes it not fun, which makes you not care. This leads to dull posts or worse, deletion of a blog that was actually not that bad. Please, relax in this new year. Let loose a little, show your fun side. Ignore the rules a little and find your own. I did. Now I know I want to post reviews and promo stuff to help my fellow authors, personal posts on my goal progress, and informative posts about science fiction-y stuff, geology, and fantasy concepts. I found a few things that have nothing to do with writing, and yet everything to do with who I am, and I think this blog will be better off for it.
OH PS: If you don’t get any return or value from a blog and you’re a writer, don’t keep going just because people say you HAVE to have a blog in order to get published. That’s just stupid logic on the industry’s part. End of story. Don’t feel pressured into doing something you loathe.
Why do you blog?
I blog purely for kicks and grins. I’ve always liked watching personal blogs and seeing how an individual grows over time; I’m curious to see my own journey, so I decided to try it. Basically, my blog just a semi-professional diary. So, if other people think it’s interesting, great! If not, no feelings hurt.
Anyway! *poke* I like hearing you say this: “Ignore the rules a little and find your own. I did.” When I follow a blog, it’s for the content, but it’s also for the author. I want to see what you have to say, so don’t censor yourself just to conform! It’s the fun part of being a writer – it’s a form of self-expression, so the important part is that YOU, your voice, your personality, all come through. Not to sound like a stalker, but that’s why I stick around; I like the actual, rather quirky, slightly awkward, puns-included voice, because that’s you being you.