Saturday, February 11, 2012

Focus!

So, I've decided I want to be a better blogger. Not just have more readers (though hopefully that will be a positive side effect). No, I just want to have a stellar blog, and I'm going to start making a focused effort on getting that (and I'm going to start blogging about how I get it)

So, I decided to take the blog love e-course from Red Velvet Art (a.k.a. Elsie Larson of A Beautiful Mess). So far, I love it!



Also, I decided to put my fancy grad school education to use (for something other than finishing my thesis - ha). Grad school is all about becoming an expert in your field, and how is that not handy for becoming a more stellar blogger? Basically in grad school they teach you that you gotta figure out what your field is, who is in it, and what they're saying/doing. Then, hypothetically, you say or do something new. I'm not entirely sure that's possible on the great-wide hinternet, but I hope to at least say something that is authentic, interesting, and maybe even innovative.

fancy grad school books

First things first though, in order to become an expert in your field you have to know what your field is. And when it comes to blogging, I admittedly do not know what my field is. I would like to have a field. I think that you can increase your chance of connecting with people by offering something that is somewhat unified (Elsie talks about this in her course too). I mean, somewhat more unified than the hodge-podge of whatever I can think of blogging approach I seem to be taking.

For example, over at Home Sweet Home, Diandra and Laura blog primarily about three things: Kitchen, Community, and Craft. Now, the stuff that's going on in these women's lives extend way beyond these three categories, but they've chosen to focus on these three things, all of which are related to the broader theme: Home Sweet Home. See how that works? I want to do that.

photo from Laura's Home Sweet Home tour, found here

The thing is, I know what I like, but I don't know what I'd like to blog about. I have a lot of interests, and I'd like to engage with people who share those interests through my blog. But I imagine that making blog-friends is a little bit like making other friends: you find people that you have some stuff in common with, but you never find people that you have all your stuff in common with. So what interests do I most want to have in common with other bloggers and readers? I can't decide.

In order to decide, I'm going to take is to start exploring the blog world more mindfully. I'm going to find blogs that I love and then figure out what I love the most about them. Then I'm probably going to blog about them. Plus, I'll probably keep plugging into the hodgepodge of whatever I can think of while I'm finding my place in the blogoshpere (winky face emoticon)

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