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Oh! I forgot to post earlier what I wrote. I wrote a scene of my Hero’s Journey short story.
I can’t actually do any writing right now, but I wanted to leave a question here for y’all to answer.
For the KeePers who have a blog…why did you start it? What do you generally post on there?I’m considering starting one, but I’m not totally sold on the idea. What would I post on it? What would I talk about?
@kate-flournoy
@winter-rose
@ethryndal
@hopeYou guys ^^ are the only people I know who have a blog, but anyone else can answer, too.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@That_Writer_Girl_99 I’ve got a blog also.
Technically I started it 3 years ago because my mum told me to so I could post nature stuff on it. XD *snickersnorts* UM NO. XD I don’t post about nature. I post writing updates, and do a weekly serial story, and just basically random life funny stories. And vlogs sometimes.
(my blog)Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au
Oh, that’s right! I forgot.
Okay, good to know @jane-maree. Haha…nature. Writing always trumps the outdoors for me. Unless I’m writing outside. *scratches head* Which…for some reason…I don’t do often? I should, though.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@that_writer_girl_99 I had one. I mean, I still have it, but I never post on it.
I posted short stories and poetry. It was good for just putting my foot out there and doing something public and it was a good learning experience, but did I build my platform? Yes. By a number I can count on my fingers.
Not very impressive.
If you start a blog without a clear plan, you’ll soon find out it’s worthless and give up. However, a blog can be a great platform builder. (I’m assuming you’re thinking of starting one for the sake of building a platform.)
Here’s what I would recommend based on my experience. If you’re going to blog, don’t blog about your writing. Sure, your writing friends and other friends might love that, but it will be hard to expand to anything really big. Instead, what I would do is think about if there’s any topic you’re passionate about that is a fairly easy to market to others. For instance, do you love gardening, psychology, robots, or theology? Those are all big topics that millions of people are interested in. If you have meaningful things to say in these areas, you could get a lot of people to follow you. Your life and your book aren’t very easy to market, but input on hot topics is. You don’t need a platform of people who want to read your book, you just need a platform. To illustrate this, a while ago I read a lot of stuff by Joanna Pen (a lady who teaches book marketing and self-publishing). Well, her stuff helped me a lot so I actually considered buying one of her novels. Problem: she writes dark supernatural thrillers. I never read dark supernatural thrillers and I don’t think I ever will. I quickly decided I wouldn’t read her novel, but the thing to notice is that I thought about it. If her book had been in a genre I liked, I almost certainly would have bought it. If you build a platform on something like gardening, it may be that less people will be interested in buying your novel, but you will be able to accumulate far more followers in the first place, so it will be well well worth it.
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@that_writer_girl_99 I started one to start getting a presence, so to say. I post about my works in progress, writing tips, writing humor, updates… it is fun.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
@Daeus Please tell me you’re saving all your marketing words of wisdom in a Word document or something. Seriously, you need to compile them all and sell it as a book.
@That_writer_girl_99 Well, I started my blog for a number of reasons. First, because I wanted to have some variety in my writing life; only writing my book 24/7 got a little tedious at times. Second, I wanted to accustom myself to others reading my work, as that is one of my biggest fears in writing. Third (this probably should be first), duh, platform. Fourth—I’ll be honest. My sister told me to. And that girl’s a terror when she’s roused. 😉I began with the express intent of writing short stories, but…it’s kind of evolved. Now I do all sorts of things on it. (Or I mean to. I haven’t been doing it very long yet…) Short stories, random bits from my life, art, photography. And humor. Because I love that stuff
If you want to blog to create a platform, don’t listen to me. Refer to Daeus. But if you want to just for your own entertainment, then I think the best thing to do is find your niche. What you feel most comfortable writing on a weekly or bi-weekly or whenever-you-want-to-post basis. Don’t write things, like stories from life or tips on poetry, if you’re only doing it because you think that’s what people like. It will come out boring and flat, because you’re heart’s not into it. Stick to who you are, and what you love. Some people could never effectively write an awkward story about being a dunce. Likewise, I could never write an instructional post about gardening that could get someone beyond “Plants grow in the dirt”. Find your style, stick to it, and don’t let those other awesome bloggers sway you into trying to be something that you’re not.
Sheesh, this got long. Probably none of it’s helpful. 🙂
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
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@that_writer_girl_99 I think having a goal and purpose for your blog is great, though that goal might just be to share about your own life and interests. It may not be the best way to build a platform, but it provides practice and it’s fun. Plus the community of small blogger/writers is pretty cool. I would say if you want to start a professional blog with the purpose of building an audience to focus on a topic you love and know about, like @daeus said.
Also, @that_writer_girl_99, I wouldn’t listen to much I have to say as I really know nothing about blogging. I do it for my own entertainment mostly. 🙂
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
I’ll tag @Jess because she’s a blogger too.
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
@ethryndal Eh…I keep most of it written down. 🙂 Most of my ideas are not very good though and most of the other ones I haven’t gotten around to trying yet.
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Thanks for the feedback, guys!
@daeus Well…you were half right about why I’m thinking about starting a blog. I want it to be an outlet, not just a platform. The entire idea is still under consideration, but I want to be able to write about whatever I want. Focusing on just one topic would get boring after a while.
@ethryndal You sell yourself short. I wasn’t even seriously considering the idea until I found your blog. Then I thought, “Oh, I could do that”.@winter-rose At least some of what I write about would have to involve writing in some way. It isn’t just a hobby, it’s a part of who I am, what I love. I think it would definitely be a learning experience as well, because it involves a slightly different take on writing than what I’m used to.
I’m still struggling with something to write about. Ethryndal’s blog–she writes about general, day-to-day kind of stuff–is the most appealing to me. I’m trying to come up with things to make it more interesting, though.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
*pokes head in door* What? Did someone mention me? *scrolls through conversation*
@that_writer_girl_99 So I’ve been blogging for almost two years. Not super impressive, but I guess I know enough to share something. I’ve had two blogs, and only one is currently running. I started my blog because I didn’t want to always write books 24/7, basically what @ethryndal said.I write about writing, I post writing prompts (the stories that I don’t have time to write,) flash fiction occasionally, random updates on happenings, book reviews, etc. I have blogger friends who post serial stories, photography, poetry, poetry prompts, share resources, and more. If you want to make a blog for a platform for your writings and such, I would say stick to writing things, but not strictly.
I also did it for the platform because everyone says that you should have a platform so people will know you etc, etc. I have a free domain on wordpress, and I like wordpress’ setup. I wouldn’t bother for paying for a domain–a free one works just as well, and it’s easier for beginning bloggers.
And finally (I could go on forever) write about things that excite you. I cannot stress this enough. If you don’t like writing it, your readers won’t want to read it, and you will get bored and quit. (Been there, done that.) I switched topics, blogs, everything, and am now happy and will be blogging for eternity. (Or something like that.) It only takes one or two posts to dramatically increase your stats, so keep plugging away until you hit that one.
Not sure how much of that was helpful, but anyways… *bows, and fades into the darkness*
@jess Thank you! Yep, helpful, you’re just reaffirming the thoughts already poking around this muddled brain of mine.
Also, I’m writing now.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@that_writer_girl_99 You can write about different things but with a consistent theme or style.
I don’t think @ethryndal has a theme, but she certainly has a style. I really think every blogger should have a style. Nonfiction can be an art form too.
If you can have a theme though, go for it. For instance, you may not want to write about theology as a science, but maybe you could have a theme of applying theology to your everyday life. Maybe gardening is way too limited of a subject for you, but perhaps you could have a general theme of home keeping and write about a lot of different things under that.
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