I said, both during this workshop and later on to Kate, that I thought the best blogs had a focus and were specialised - and that when I write my blog I try to remember that most of the people reading it are writers, or bookworms, or people who want to be writers. They don't really care about the other stuff I get up to. So I try to stick to posts about writing and research and editing and The Writing Life (such as it is) even though there are lots of other things that I do and think about.
It's also important to me that most of my private life is private - so I don't blog too much about my family or the conversations I have with other people - and when I do (like now) I stick to what I say and leave out what they say. I don't put pictures of Small Fry and Mr on here because they wouldn't like it and I generally don't blog too much or too specifically about my freelance work because that effects other people too.
And, of course, I make quite a lot of this up. I had a couple of questions from the students at Edge Hill about my blogging and there was an audible gasp when I 'confessed' to a lot of the fiction and artifice contained in these posts. Eeep. May I refer you back to the title of this blog? I've got a diary for when I want to do my confessional writing. I never forget that this is public.
All this has got me thinking, and I might almost be on the cusp of changing my mind. I used to blog a lot more about my not-writing life than I used to, and I think one of the reasons why I stopped was because I suddenly started getting lots more hits and didn't feel that I was speaking to a group of people I knew anymore. Readers became audience, and this became more performed than I intended it to be. Maybe.
What do you think? Is there an ideal balance between specialism and individuality on a blog? What's your experience about the line you draw between your public written life and your private one? I am curious if the people reading my blog have extra things they would like to find out about me and my not-writing-life (such as it is)
oh dear, I think my blog breaks all the rules.. my blog isn't very focused or specialised. It started off as a writing blog and became about everything and anything. My rules are I don't write about family and friend, other than brief mentions, I don't write about work, at all. other than that it's a bit of a free for all... my personal blogs always get more hits and comments than my writing blogs, so, I just don't know...
ReplyDeleteAh - and I like your blog very much. And many of the blogs that I read regularly (blog roll in the side-bar as well as a shed load of others in my reader) break all these rules. Just like many of my favourite books break the creative writing rules. I think so long as you do it with style, you're okay.
ReplyDeleteI don't really check the stats on my blog anymore, as it gave me a bit of stage-fright the last time I did. I like the illusion that I'm just typing to a bunch of pen-pals, even if it isn't true any more.
I get asked a lot of questions at festivals and readings about working in a prison, which I am happy to talk about without naming the prison or any particular men who I worked with, but it isn't something I ever felt comfy writing too much about on here.
I think it's the difference, partly, between speaking and writing. Once the words are here, they can be copied and misquoted forever. It's easier to understand what someone means and how they mean it if you see their face as they speak. Maybe.
I'm not about to turn this blog into something very very different, but I have noticed it's got less and less personal as time has gone on and more about promoting books and events, and I'm not sure if I like that.
I will wait for more comments and see what other people think.
My blog was started so that I could become a Novel Racer and take my novel seriously. I'd become hooked on Kate Harrison's blog and although I enjoyed it was because she was a writer, I loved peering into her life with boyf and the cat. So I do think that other parts of your life that you're prepared to talk about would interest people too.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, my own blog came about to focus on my desire to write but the fact that I live in Bangkok gives me a different edge. Maybe that's good, maybe it's bad but it's me and my blog... so that's what I do.
That's interesting - because my intention about what my blogging is for has changed a lot since I first started in Feb 2007. I used it at first to keep in touch and join in with my blogging friends, as a substitute for a social life (I was a skint, stay at home single mother) and to show people the stories I'd had published on-line.
ReplyDeleteNow, it's a bit different and I think I liked it better how it was. Hmm.
Maybe it is different because my life is very different now. I am nostalgic. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's true, isn't it? Blogging, like anything else, is organic.
ReplyDeleteOh the networking, the not feeling alone and the being able to ask others for advice when you've hit a brick wall... all of that's invaluable.
Also when I'm writing regularly I can't find anything to say on my blog so my experience of living in a different culture creeps in...
Yes - I used to have a much lonelier life and had more time to do and blog about other things. Now, I write and work more than full time, and there's not too much else to blog about other than writing, editing, writing events, and my work. I'm having a little break from my writing work over the summer but I don't plan to stop blogging, so I wonder what I'll write about then. Unlike you, I live in exactly the same culture as I was born and brought up in, although I still feel like a tourist sometimes so there's probably some rich pickings there...
ReplyDeleteI think the cool thing about your blog, and others I regard as faves (including Annie's) is that it's you being you. It all seems very natural and honest and I like that. You know, it's as interesting reading about what someone's doing professionally, readings or appearances for instance, as it is reading their thoughts on, err, custard. For instance.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think about that.
Nik
...and as a PS, which may, or may not, be interesting: I think my one rule for blogging would be: if I find it interesting then I'll blog about it; as I'm a writer a lot of those things will be writing related but they don't have to be writing related to be interesting. I think.
ReplyDeleteI need to include more of my thoughts on custard, Nik. I like the kind that comes in cartons. In fact, I'm off to the supermarket now, so I might buy some...
ReplyDeleteI do my blog a bit like a diary....though I have a paper one and a computer one! I try to keep my focus on student life because that's currently what I'm doing....But I tend to wonder off into rants-mostly about my large pile of university work and my house mates. I also talk about books and films though and places I've been too. So there's a mixture of things on there now!
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I've started a new blog which is ficional......
It is nice one, the pic is very cool, i just wonder if the real matter also cool enough. I have got a watch which have nice photo but do not really good before, it is so bad...
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