“What would you say defines your blog, or sets it apart from other parenting blogs in Australia?” asked the PR woman from Sydney over the phone.
“I – er – well, I’m not sure,” I stuttered and like a bad, bad blogger I committed the sin like a bad, bad author does when they’re asked about their book: I’d forgotten the 30-word blurb or byline about my ‘product’. The spiel. The hook.
My mind went blank. Actually, the few seconds before it went blank it had a Phooey to your question! I defy classification! It is what it is, and there’s nothing wrong with that moment.
But it is a legitimate question, one that we all must ask ourselves when we blog from time to time, especially if we write about a niche subject, which I would argue that ‘parenting’ is, even if it’s a big one. And I suppose the need becomes greater when your blog gets noticed by certain people; people with contacts and business cards, and opportunities to offer like some providential pez dispenser.
While I’m in the spirit of disclosure, I will admit what my answer was, something along these lines: “Maybe I talk about writing and books more than the typical parenting blog out there?”
Genius. Pure Genius.
Not.
You can call me on that, if you think I’m mistaken, but here’s my defence: before last year this blog ranked really well, did good traffic, and then I got ‘Serious’. Raved incessantly about the book I was writing/producing, and lost a lot of my older readers. Gained new ones, too, don’t get me wrong, but lost a lot of the old crowd because this blog changed. I neglected to talk about poo. I’ve left out a lot of my children’s’ developmental milestones, which I may regret in time. After two and a half years, I can barely remember which stories I’ve told, or which ones I’ve possibly repeated two or three times: call it amnesia, blog-style.
******
Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys has said of Pop Music: “Your limitations create your style.” I’d wager the same can be said for any creative medium you choose to express yourself in. I write here, and elsewhere. I dream. I toss up the detritus of our daily lives in the air and let them fall on the canvas of a blank ‘New Post’ screen and hope something okay comes out of it. You see – I have a secret: I pretend otherwise, but 90% of the time I have no idea what I’m doing.
I’m not entirely sure what my point is here. Perhaps it is to remind some of you – those of you who really care about your blog, think it’s a platform for greater things, greater traffic and better opportunities (and you know who you are) – to ready your answer to the question that was asked of me. You never know if – nay, when – it will happen.
And for God’s sake, do a better job than I did.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m just ecstatic with the joy that you quoted Neil Tennant. I loves me some Pet Shop Boys!
I got asked by a radio type person that other day what my blog was about and went blank. lol I talk about my kids at times, but I dunno that my blog is exactly a parenting blog.
I wouldn’t have exactly called your blog a parenting blog (maybe I haven’t been around long enough). Sure you talk about parenting at times, but you talk about so much other stuff too.
Like B I wouldn’t have pigeon holed your blog under parenting, it’s too eclectic for just one subject heading
Jayne’s last blog post..Back in a March flash I started Trivial on a 12 dash of History Jamaican rum
A parenting blog only? No, I don’t think so. Your blog stands out because we get a sense of who you are, what drives you, what is important. It’s a window to your soul.
tiff’s last blog post..On waiting?
Oh that question scares the pants off me!
Heck I can’t even write my about page because I have no idea what my blog is ‘about’…. it’s complex and eclectic… kind of like me!
Why do people have to put a ‘niche’ to every blog anyway!?!?!
I hope no-one that thoughtful reads my blog!
Tracey’s last blog post..Mellow Yellow Monday
I’ve never really thought of blogging as a launch pad to bigger and better things, at least not for myself. I don’t have the creativity to generate new content indefinitely lol, I always end up burning out eventually. Hence, I start a blog. I end it. A year later, I start a blog. I end it. Etc.
I do think, though, that those people who really put effort into their websites? They’ll be fine, no matter how many interviews don’t go exactly as planned. The fact is that they care and that alone makes an enormous difference in finding an audience, maintaining readership, and whatever else constitutes (by their standards) successful blogging.
So I’m sure that the interview will be fine and that this website will just keep chugging along and that the book will be okay as well. The details like how you answered one question one time will eventually be forgotten under the weight of how much you’ve done with your blog. Period.
(Of course, I could be wrong. Who knows? But good luck, all the same!)
I think the best blogs defy classification, or cover many areas.
Jean-Luc Picard’s last blog post..Enterprise Infiltration By Section 31 (Part Six)
Thanks guys for your opinions! Not that there’s anything wrong with ‘just’ being a parenting blog, if that’s all you want to be, or occupy.
Perhaps I was rattled because that’s not ‘all’ I want to be classified/alinged with.
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