Nice to see you again. Follow me, @SydneyOwen. Thanks for being here!
In response to Matt’s post today, I was going to comment and then I realized as I was commenting that my comment was long enough to be a post. So I’m sharing it with you here.
Matt’s post is talking about how to dive into blogging. At the end, he mentions that your first three months are going to suck. First three months? My first YEAR was difficult! I picked a niche that I actually knew virtually nothing about (looking back, I had no idea there was so much involved in social media and PR, and how much I had yet to learn) – and I felt like I had pigeon-holed myself as trying to be an “expert” in something I hadn’t even gotten my degree in yet. I felt guilty for wanting to write about what I was learning, what I was doing in my day-to-day life, and thus, Unfiltered came to be, a safe-haven for posts that were more about learning about LIFE, not exclusive to my passion for the social space and PR.
I’m not saying my blog isn’t what got me on the map. It most certainly has made a difference. But I think it’s important to go with the flow on blogging. As we evolve as people, we should allow our blogs to evolve with us. Sticking to a niche because that’s where you started and you’re afraid to deviate is robbing yourself and your community of good, passionate, honest writing.
Not to say that we should all go rogue and crazy and start blogging about ourselves and ourselves only. Passion doesn’t only lie in personal blogging, as is very apparent with Matt’s writing. As long as you have passion for what you’re writing about, be it love, politics, technology, your career, what have you, the rest will fall into place, the community will form, and you’ll be so addicted to sharing what you’re passionate about, that you will want to write ALL THE TIME.
Great takeaway from Matt’s post today: stop doubting and start doing.
I think as bloggers, we’ve all been there. Depending on what your topic du jour is, I think we’ve all had that split-second (and sometimes longer) where we hover over the publish button. Should we really post it? Are we ACTUALLY writing about this? I feel like the posts where I’ve hovered are the posts that people can relate to the most. Because it’s that fear that sometimes creates the greatest content.
If you are a blogger – what keeps you going? If you’re a reader, what keeps you coming back?