Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like “Second Tall Man.”
—from “The Worst Analogies Ever Written in a High School Essay”
There are times when I really do have “so much to say”—beautiful stretches of days and weeks in which I know exactly what I want to put on this blog, and the words flow and the ideas crash along the shores of my mind with not enough time to get them all on “paper.”
And then there are desolate stretches when I weigh and toss every idea that comes along. Unimportant. Boring. Unfocused.
This is me this morning. Sitting gape-jawed in front of a blank Word document, trying to figure out what to fill it with. Clicking through my Google reader looking for inspiration.
A blog is supposed to have a focus. It’s supposed to be about something. That’s how you build a readership: you find a gap in the tsunami of verbiage online, and you fill it. That’s not what I do. I write whatever I feel like writing. I’ll go for weeks blogging about Down syndrome, and then spend a bunch of time on faith issues, with stopoffs on parenthood and marriage, and an occasional rant about something in the culture…
Writers tend to blog about writing. But I’ve never wanted to do that, because frankly, you people don’t find it very interesting. I know because I watch my stats, and writing posts don’t rack up the hits. And lately, Advent is topic non grata as well. (That’s oversaturation, and I understand it. Believe me. There’s only so many times you can say the same thing before people tune out.)
So this morning, I put the question to you. What brings you to this humble little corner of the e-universe? What kind of topics make you sit up and click through? What would you like to see featured here?
Kathleen M. Basi 
I just enjoy your writing style. I enjoy reading about your children because you have a young woman’s outlook on parenting (my youngest is older than your oldest). I love reading about our Faith and just life in general
What made me click? Well, this morning, it was your quote from Worst Essay Analogies, because it made me laugh out loud!
Although I believe some of those analogies were very insightful, including
Doesn’t that explain your feelings with a creative visual image? LOL
I guess we follow you because you don’t write with a single focus or passion. I subscribe to a boatload of ‘special interest’ blogs that stick to ONE topic, and cover that one topic very well.
However, when I’m not in the mood to read about SEO and podcast marketing, I’ll just hit ‘Delete’ and send their hard work into my trash can.
Your blog, however, gets read every single day I receive it in my inbox… whether I reply or not. Because your posts make me laugh, and think, and appreciate how other people live. Everyone can relate to your blog, regardless whether we celebrate Advent or raise children with special needs.
Call it voyeurism or reaffirmation, but I like to peek into the lives of other mothers who juggle young kids and careers, and be able to recognize their trials and obstacles in the mirror…
Real people can learn so much from each other’s experiences, making your blog more invaluable than any collection of key-word rich regurgitation.
Just keep writing about whatever inspires you!
Oh, you are sweet. And I had the same thought about those quotes–some of them are terribly insightful. 🙂
Thanks for the pep talk.
I’m rather new to WordPress, and haven’t nearly seen enough blogs to figure out what people blog about the most. I read you because I like reading about what you write, unfortunately, I cannot give specifics. Maybe I should read your archives…
Re Advent: I wish that your stats could tell you the amount of times that I write something in the comment box and then don’t end up clicking “post comment.” That seems like an important stat to have, right? And just to be clear, you’re not one of the bloggers I feel I need to “be careful” to not offend, but I never know quite what to say and often fail to get over myself and just say something.
Anyway, you’re entirely right about blogging and focus. I chose a generic name so that I could blog about anything I liked. But I did so knowing that it won’t grow that way. Choosing a topic is crucial etc. etc. etc. It has worked for me because I am not a writer and blogging is the only way that I seek to make my thoughts in any way coherent.
But back to you… I think you could have a writing-focused blog if you wanted it. It would take a bit to build up your base, but you could if you wanted.
This morning I read “Breathing Free” in Google Reader and felt quite connected but also that I needed to think more about what to say in response (which might mean a comment in a week or never) and then I read this post and thought that you could use a comment even if I don’t say anything actually helpful. 🙂 I read your blog because I like reading about your life. You have a lot of beauty here, and that isn’t always great blog material in terms of stats. I could give you a list of 10 ways to improve your blog and get more readers, but then I wouldn’t read your blog anymore (well, I might because I would still be interested in *you* but you know what I mean).
I like the fact that you are more complete than focused, and more beautiful than bulleted.
Thanks, Rae. Sorry, I’ve been really whiny this week. But I feel it working its way out of my system, post by post. By next week, once this cold goes away, I should be in great shape to enjoy Christmas! LOL
I didn’t read you as whiny at all! Just trying to figure out what people want, which is ironic because you’re probably only going to get comments from those of us who like this sort of post anyway. I dare you to do a bulleted/list post about your blog in <150 words with a one-sentence question in bold at the end. Seriously dare you. And then I'll sit back and count the comments. 😉
I’m not sure I’m following you. When you say “about your blog,” what do you mean? Like, on the topic of blogging? On what topics I cover?
Ack! Kiddos calling.
I guess both? I was thinking of the gist of this post converted from an unassuming essay/journal format into a pushy “Hey! Give me your attention! Comment!” list post type. I don’t want to pick on anyone as an example, but basically the way they say to blog if you want to get comments.
Noooooo! No bullet points, Top 50 lists, or questions in bold fonts…..
Don’t succumb to the masses. 😛
Hehehehe…Tara, love it!
Rae, you’ll have to email me and name some names privately, b/c aside from the questions in bold fonts, I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about!