re: things to think about when blogging
Moi sent me this cool blog about blogging the other day and one of the pages on it is a list of things to think about when blogging. It's a great list, even if I didn't know the answers to many of the questions when I first started blogging. Now that I've figured out slightly more of them, I thought it'd be a fun thought exercise to elaborate my answers.
What would you like to blog about?
I blog about whatever is on my mind. When I started I think I tried to focus on crafting more educational posts, but I've learned since that people enjoy reading about my thoughts and feelings as much as I enjoy writing about them. So now anything is fair game.
Who would you like to blog with?
Any kindred spirit will do. Some of my irl friends have made blogs on here too, which makes me happy. I wish everyone had one.
Why are you interested in blogging? Why not anything else?
I've sort of wanted to start a blog in the back of my mind for a long time, but I didn't really seriously consider it until I started writing long letters to my ex-girlfriend a few years ago. All told, our correspondence numbered in the hundreds of thousands of words and made me realize I had a lot to say, almost all the time.
Why blogging and not something else? I blog because I like to write. I don't draw or make videos or take pictures. I feel best when I am putting words together and telling stories with them.
What does a 'blog' mean to you β how would you define it?
A 'blog' is a place for me to express myself on the internet. To paraphrase Bukowski, it is as simple and as complex as that.
How are you going to name your blog? How about your entries? How are you going to name the author of your blog?
One of the things that delayed my entry into blogging was finding a blog name I liked. I changed it countless times before stumbling upon "yours, tiramisu", but I've kept it for a while now. I'm very fond of it. It pays homage to how I found my way back to writing in adulthood by penning letters to friends. I try to write each blog post with the sincerity of a letter to a close friend, and my sign-off reflects that.
I don't put too much thought into the names of my individual blog entries. If I can think of something witty I'll use that, if not I either pick a pithy summary or some song lyric or poem verse that's stuck in my head.
What is the purpose of this blog going to be? Who is it for? Does 'purpose' or 'meaning' matter here, even? If so, how?
I blog here for three reasons: to practice writing, to think clearly, and to remember life.
I write primarily for myself. Writing makes me happy. 'Purpose' or 'meaning' doesn't matter much, but I probably wouldn't have started blogging if I didn't want to get better at writing.
Along the way I've realized that blogging is also a great way to meet very neat people, but that's all icing on the cake.
What would you like people (including yourself) to take away from your blog posts?
One of my favorite writers E.B. White once wrote,
"All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world. I guess you can find that in there, if you dig around."
I love that. I want my readers to learn something, to consider something from a new angle, to be reminded that life is beautiful and short and that we shouldn't take it for granted.
The same goes for myself β after all, nobody reads my writing more than I do.
Will you look back?
I will and I do. I invariably cringe when I look back too far, but I've learned to take it as a sign of growth.
I find it interesting to read what I was thinking about at a certain point in time. Does the way I felt in writing line up with my memory of a certain time? If I go back long enough I can hardly recognize my own writing.
Does this blog treasure the mundane? How does it think about nothingness? What is worthy of being written about?
Of course it does. My life is mundane, almost all the time, and I'm treasuring the mundane by writing about my life.
I don't believe in nothingness. There is only inattention, never nothingness.
Anything can be worthy of being written about. It takes great skill to elevate the mundane into something worth paying attention to.
Who are you in conversation with here? How do you converse with yourself? Who is the self you're speaking to?
I'm in conversation with myself, and at the same time some imaginary friend I wish existed to read all my thoughts without judgment.
βWhat Iβm really concerned about is reaching one person. And that person may be myself for all I know.β
You're seeing the way I converse with myself on this blog. This is the filtered, slightly cleaned-up version of my internal monologue.
When is a blog post finished? When is the whole blog finished?
A blog post is finished when I run out of things I want to write about for the day. Then I publish and let ideas percolate for the next post.
The whole blog is never finished, I hope. I want to do this for a long time.
Should you write in the open? Or will you only publish when you deem something 'finished'? Does 'finished' have a meaning here?
I write out in the open. I edit and review my posts minimally, mostly for grammar and rarely for very long. This is my place to practice, to workshop my own thoughts.
What do you absolutely not want your blog to be like?
I don't want my blog to be boring. I don't want to sell things here, if I can get away with it.
When are you going to set aside time and space to blog? What are the conditions you need to blog?
I don't set aside time and space to blog. I just wait until I feel compelled to write, which usually happens every day or every other day.
I've tried setting aside a dedicated time every day to blog, but it didn't work for me. I do recognize that one of the reasons I don't need to do this is because I have a pretty empty calendar. Even when I had a job I would write all the time, including during work hours. I'm fortunate to enjoy blogging enough to do it over other things. I'll get out of bed to write and even do it on vacation.
I don't need any conditions to blog. It's easier when my mind is bursting at the seams, but I can do it when it's not too. I don't believe it's good to have conditions or superstitions to write.
Does setting rules for yourself help you? What constraints do you want to set on your blog? What contexts should the blog operate in?
Setting rules hasn't really worked for me. I've only really tried one that I can remember this year, which was trying to write every single day in January and then at least every other day for the entire year. I didn't always enjoy the pressure the rules put on me and ended up breaking both, but I do keep writing regularly so I don't beat myself up about it too much.
I recognize the value in pushing myself to improve, but I do this for fun and I don't want to snuff out my enjoyment with some silly rule.
I do have one (sort of unspoken) rule I don't think about much that I've stuck with, which is to write in proper English, with capitalization and punctuation and minimal profanity. Like most people my age I am very comfortable writing informally on the internet, but because I have aspirations of one day doing something with my writing I want to get used to seeing my writing voice as it would be printed somewhere in a professional setting.
Do you want it to be ephemeral or persisting? A specific log for a trip or for a summer, for example? Do you want to only write for it when at a certain location? To publish a minimum or maximum of words/photos/videos?
I want my blog to be a long-lasting record of my life in letters (in blog post form). The more words the better, of course, provided I am not writing fluff to reach some arbitrary wordcount.
How do you think about time and chronology with your blog? Is it going to be linear?
I don't think about it much. I suppose it's mostly linear because I'm usually writing about the present, though occasionally I write about things that happened years ago.
How would you like to structure your blog? Would you like to tag, categorize, or filter your blog posts? Or, what structures do you not want to be constricted by?
My blog has very little structure and I like it that way.
I try to tag my posts but coming up with useful tags and actually using them is difficult, so I've largely given up on them and adopted a "less is more" approach. I do add a star (βοΈ) to post titles if the post is popular or one I am particularly proud of.
Should you have one blog for all your notes, or would you like to create several ones? What identities will you assume for each?
One blog for all my notes, so far.
I've blurred the lines between my internet persona and my actual identity enough to consider creating another completely anonymous/public blog, but I haven't felt a strong need for it yet.
Would you like to customize your blog? What kind of space or environment would you like your blog to take in?
I like simplicity, so I've customized my blog very little. Black and white, no wallpapers or animations or any of that funny business. I want my words to do the talking.
What should people feel before, while, and after reading?
Hopefully inspired, curious, grateful, at least after reading. Less lonely, perhaps. And not bored while reading.
Is your blog an open door? How do you welcome people in? Do you expect people to frequent or come back?
It's (mostly) an open door! I share it with close friends and internet strangers alike.
I don't expect people to frequent or come back, though I'm happy when they do. I eschew the use of a email newsletter because I don't want to bother people to read my blog. If you like it enough to remember to come back, great! If not, no worries.
Who do you write for?
Myself first. Then my friends, internet visitors β you all.
Who will you try to be, as a writer? Which fragment of yourself would you like to present?
I try to be as sincere and candid as possible on here. I want to present fragments of myself I don't normally get to in everyday life. Those are the parts people most enjoy reading about, because they make them feel less alone.
Is your audience the people you know? For people you don't know? A mix of in-between?
Mix of in-between! Mostly people I don't know, though.
I do wish I'd not shared it with as many people I know in real life, but that's neither here nor there.
How do you want people to find your blog?
Either from me directly or on the interwebs. Any way is fine, I guess. My friends also share it with others, which is (usually) cool. (Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable when people do that with people I don't know or don't want reading my thoughts.)
What space, platform, and/or tools do you need for you to feel secure and safe in sharing the content of your choosing?
Bear! Home sweet home.
Do you want people to engage with you? Do you want to check stats or metrics?
Yes, hearing from readers is always nice!
I don't want to obsess over stats or metrics, but I do check them. It's nice to know people are out there reading my writing.
Would you be comfortable with your friends talking to you about your blog? How should they bring it up?
Yes, of course β that's why I share it with them. They can bring it up any way they please.
How do you want people to engage with your blog?
They can send me an email or link to my blog (though I often miss when people mention my blog so I always appreciate when people email me to tell them they've done this).
How are you going to talk to your blog?
As candidly and plainly as possible.
Is the blog precious?
Uhm, it certainly means a lot to me now.
How will you preserve and archive your blog? Will you mirror its contents anywhere?
My blog isn't archived anywhere, but I do keep a text copy of all the posts (in addition to my other writing that doesn't make it to the blog) backed up to Git.