Your blog: personal or professional?

I do both. I started, probably for the first year, doing only professional - ostensibly the point of the blog. So I talked about interesting criminal case I was handling, about criminal law in general, how the DA's office works etc.

But then I started to make it a little more personal, a little about my writing and other things. I assume, maybe wrongly, that regular readers will want to know a little more about the person behind the blog, and so keeping it professional maintains a barrier between them and me.

But I am making it up as I go along.

I wouldn't call mine professional, but I'm not sure I'd call it personal either. It's very personal in that the viewpoints are my beliefs, but it mostly deals with external stuff - not my life - and that's how I prefer it. I like talking about the world I live in more than I like talking about myself, and so I'll probably say a little of both

Definately personal.

It didn't start out that way. I orginally started it to write about stuff. Whatever interested me, as a writing exercise with the added benefit of an audience.

Then...life happened. It's been a rough couple years and blogging helped. I have had some great feedback that let me know people appreciate it for various reasons.

Lately I have been thinking of taking my blog link out of my sig line here at AW. Since a lot of people here have blogs about writing, I think people may go to my blog (expecting a writing blog) and think, "Whoa, TMI!" (too much information, Leslie!)

Decisions, decisions...

Not really either. I put my own personal spin on what I write, but mostly I'm blogging my opinion about writing tips, writing styles, certain books, and then there is the spin on the monthly blog hops, chains and writing prompts! Which I love.

I've only been blogging for a few weeks now, and I'm still kind of playing around with its direction. Originally, I intended not to limit myself too rigorously to any particular theme, but writing is always on my mind, so that's what the majority of entries have been about.

I'm not opposed to incorporating personal stuff from time to time though, I suppose.

I do a little bit of both.

theresa.mcclinton said:

I was just skimming through my blog, and realized that it took a turn to include both work related posts about writing, and personal posts about my life.

Click to expand...

I have two blogs (one for my horror/spec fic and one for my erotica/bizarro name). So far my horror blog is more professional and my bizarro blog is more slice of life/odd ramblings stuff with info to my work available. Occasionally I will post about writing on that blog.

One thing I don't do is write fiction specifically for my blog. Maybe a poem once in a while. I find it interesting when people write stories or serials for their blog. There go your first publishing rights.

At the end of the day, you can only come up with so many ideas for blogging so it stands to reason that "life stuff" would sneak in there...

A mix of both. I review books, bring up writing topics, and babble on about interesting days in my life. I don't tend to talk about my WIPs though, I try to keep the writing discussions more general.

Both! As a new horror/paranormal author, I'm looking for people who's minds are as twisted as mine is. So that's professional. However, in my blog posts, I also intend to touch on the personal, from time to time.

http://www.preciousmonsters.com/

I don't blog about my life or the people in it. But I do have a voice with a clear point of view and personality.

When I blog, which isn't nearly as often as I should these days, I usually address both. I don't have much of a professional life right now, so when I say professional I refer to the whole 'am I talking about my writing and not the rest of my life' dilemma. In most cases, my blog posts deal with some personal stuff--usually what I'm up to or how my life is going--and a lot of professional.

Definitely work related, although not my 9 to 5 per say.

My aspiring writing, with little talk about my every day life (other than the odd mid Blog Post venting )

I do plan on including some work related things in the future, but i'm trying to separate them a little. Have a portfolio type page within my Blog.

Matt (Turndog Millionaire)

Both! Most Mondays, I write a blog post about a different creature (since most of my writing tends toward fantasy). Tuesday is a writing update, Wednesdays I ask a question and then answer it myself. This is where I can get more personal.

This past month I haven't been posting as much since I just had a little boy (my third!)

I have one of each.

I maintain a professional blog on blogspot where I discuss writing and offer advice to those interested. Then I have a livejournal where I put my more personal thoughts, processes, etc. I do the personal separate in part because I'm able to filter to specific audiences on livejournal, but I can't on blogspot.

It allows me to maintain a small separation.

A little bit of both, I suppose. I use discretion when posting personal information about myself on the internet, but my blog is about my emotions as I work on my WIP. So, it tends to be somewhat personal, but without any specific details of my life.

I'm not big into blogging as I don't

a: want to share anything that is really personal

b: Have (or think I have) so much expertise that I have to share it

I came to blogging in January because I sort of needed to as a writer. More important than sharing my outlook on various things humorously, I needed to display my writing style for 'professional reasons'. Also I needed to demonstrste that I had at least a little discipline by being able to write a more or less steady 4 posts per month. So far, even with maple syrup season in process, I've been able to keep to the schedule. (just posted my latest this morning .. link below)

While it is only one genre, for now at least, it does show my thinking pattern and one of my writing styles. Don't know if it will ever really do me any good.

Gonna post now after three days.

I mostly write about writing, so I wouldn't call it professional; however, I almost never blog about my own life, so I wouldn't call it personal. Though, I am trying to speak a bit more about myself. I don't generally share much, but of course, making connections is king in this industry.

I'd say Guerrilla Warfare For Writers is very topic related and geared toward writing and publishing. But it's my experience and viewpoints, therefore it's not the definitive word or end-all on the subject. It's very difficult for me to write about subjects that haven't been brought up before, or have been glossed over, but I try to find new information. I didn't realize how difficult it was to keep up a steady blog. I try and post one article about every three days now, instead of daily.

I've been thinking about very controversial subjects, but have held off. I don't need comments that bad, and I'm afraid of evoking wrath and flame wars. I would like to find the middle ground, if I can.

tri

I kind of blur the line on my blog between professional and personal. I think, at least for me being in Tech, that's important. People want to know about me but they also want to know about my professional thoughts.

I think it's really a spectrum, not black and white.

A bur the line a bit. I just tend to give my take on random topics, but there are occasional bits about my life and writing career, and the entire thing is a showcase of sorts.

Mine also blurs, and here's why: readers respond well to a careful balance of the personal and the professional. They need to know who YOU are, even if they came for what you DO. I think the Bloggess is an excellent example of a well-done personal/professional blog. http://thebloggess.com/

I just started my blog earlier this week so I don't know what is going to happen in the future!

My intention though is to keep the blog about writing in general and my journey writing my WIP and what happens after. However, it is not a 'professional' blog in the sense that a) I'm not a professional (at least not yet ) and b) seeing as I write YA I think it is okay for me to keep the mood 'lighter' and write in a more fun, personal way.

Lets see how it develops!

I'd say my tone is fairly personal/casual, but the subject matter ranges from professional writerly type stuff (analyzing horror/fantasy or commenting on books) to personal stuff (the death of a co-worker, the Korean Mafia trying to hire me as a stripper, etc).

My blog is meant to help promote my writing career, so it's professional and aimed at future readers. That doesn't mean I'm posting about writing, because fantasy readers don't necessarily want to read about writing. In fact, when I asked amongst my (mostly non-writing) Facebook friends about what they'd like to see on my blog, they firmly said that the one subject I should avoid writing about was writing. Presumably this is because they think it would be boring. This could be a misconception on their part, but I know when I dive into the twisted intricacies of some writing point, my husband's eyes have a tendency to glaze over. Message received.