Do you stick to writing in your blog, or do you touch on many subjects?

I cover mostly writing related stuff--my books, my appearances, my plays, my poetry, etc--but I do touch on other subjects if the mood strikes. I write about travels, life, observations, songs, etc, etc, etc.

I'm new to blogging (and currently struggling to stay active on it haha). But I have my normal posts, which include my thoughts on different situations, be they personal, or world. Then I have a section for poetry, and another for flash fiction/stories

Also, hi Leif, totally didn't realize this was your post haha

leifwright said:

Right on. Blogging is a discipline, just like writing, in my experience. I've been doing it (blogging) on and off since 1996, with varying rates of success. There was a time when blogging was new and fun that I was on a short list of the top blogs, most of which have since disappeared (I think Raymitheminx may be one of the few from that era that are still around).

Ultimately, it's the same as writing a good story: you have to have something to say. That, for me, is often the toughest part.

For you, you might think about the time you just had in the "post the first three sentences" thread on this forum for a blog post. It's a good story, and indicative of the struggle you sometimes go through to craft good writing. It'd be fun for your blog's audience to get that peek inside your process.

Just a thought.

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Haha thanks, I may do just that ... Though you know, this is your post seeking advice , you're 'sposed to soak in the advice, not give out the answers you seek haha

hmmm, fair enough haha

1) A reflection on what confidence is, and how to obtain it
2) What someone should do if they win the Powerball
3) The beginning of my first story that I tried to write outside of highschool way back when (stumbled across it on my computer haha)

Rather than tell you what I do, I'll tell you what I see from well-known authors, mid-listers, and newbies that I like and seems to go over well with others.

a variety of topics with a personal touch
nothing strongly religious or political
writing ups and downs
updates on new releases or what happening
not getting too personal or depressing
sharing bits of the book didn't make it or research done for the book

I see a mix of post, some geared toward readers and some for writers.

The blogs that I personally follow all have a theme and >50% of their posts are on that theme. I think it's often more of a 70/30 split, but at least 50/50.

For example... Book review blog? At least half their posts are book reviews. The other half might be anything from updates on their own writing, thoughts on politics, something funny that happened to them that day, etc. But if their theme is 'Book Reviews' that's what half their posts are. It means that whenever I visit their blog I can be assured that the most recent content will be of interest to me - if there's no theme, then I don't have that.

Now you're running an author website/blog, and I admit I've never had much interest in those until after I've read and enjoyed the author's book. I'm going to get interested in the book first and then look up the author, because they impressed me and I'm interested. Alternatively if we are friends then I might follow your blog regardless, but if we are already close then I'll be buying your book regardless and therefore I'm not really your target demographic.

I do some writing-related posts, but I mostly stick to what I call my Voice. There are three topics that I tend to write about often now (this is a fairly recent development): Human trafficking; justice system misconduct (from cops all the way to prison); and wrongful convictions/cold cases.

Mostly writing, but I have been known to meander.

I mostly don't write about writing. My blog has been more to demonstrate that I can ​write, not that I know stuff about the craft.

For the most part I stay within the topic of what the blog was set up for. My cat blog, is usually a picture a day, sometimes the pictures have a holiday theme, or something, but it stays on topic. My story blog is usually updates of stories, occasionally a Merry Christmas type thing. I also have a political blog which can go every direction depending on what's going on in the news.

I have a pretty eclectic blog. Politics, feminism, being broke, parenting, special needs parenting, cooking, reefing, live in NY for someone not living the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Sometimes I blog about writing, but even then it's more about my process than anything else. Can't imagine I'd find a new and enticing way to describe POV. My readers/followers have found the blog from different points of interest, and I think those that keep returning do so because of the voice, more than anything else.

Writing, travel, magic, history and art. But I write historical fiction and fantasy, am an artist, and I travel (and sell my photos), so it all relates to my talents and interests!

Bloggity Bloggity Blog Blog

The great legal phrase comes to play right now - It Depends.

My personal blogs - I have several as I have several websites, tend to be anything I want to write. I use them to blow off steam, to try ideas and just to have fun. I have been writing those since the days of Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy and other lessor known venues.

Not my personal blogs - I write for the theme of the site. This is an election year and so I drift to political sites and blogs to produce exquisite prose. Or rather in the world of politics, a style that is prose compared to the drivel others are putting up; this is not bragging, it is how the world is. Currently I write for a political blog, usually three articles each week.

I approach writing for any of the blogs the same way Dorothy Parker wrote short stories for the magazines of her generation. Well, almost, Dorothy expected payment so she could eat and drink. I work for a living with blogging as a hobby. Write well, experiment as much as possible, and go to your discomfort zone occasionally. Blogging is not a one thousand to ten thousand word exercise. Three hundred to six hundred words is your slate. But, do not expect payment, only the thanks of the five people who read the blog. Or, possibly the millions who read the blog.

The one reason for blogging is to have fun. Oh, and possibly, to let your mother know that you can write and that her sending you to school everyday did have some results.

Your blog is supposed to be an expression of WHO YOU ARE - a unique person. Or at least that part that you want to reveal to the world. Which, if you follow many celebrities, you know is often a harsh, hurtful place, with some people out to destroy you. The more fame you get, the more hate you get.

So write about any damned topic you want. Generally that falls into personal stuff, and professional stuff. Some writers have two blogs, one for each kind of topic. Others combine the two. Nora Roberts does the first, John Scalzi does the second. Both approaches win them many followers, so both approaches work. Which one works best FOR YOU?

What l see, if your blog is supposed to promote your work, then it is usually pure writing stuff, with a few scattered personal views (not too personal) here anf there.

With any kind of writing, the thing to ask yourself is "who is my audience?"

Keeping in mind that your audience may be of several sorts—if you write about writing and are blogging in hopes of raising your profile as an author, most readers are not writers though most writers are readers.

Given that, and given the difficulty readers have finding good books when there are so very many to choose from, I encourage everyone who blogs about anything to consider blogging about books they love/like/find interesting.

Wouldn't you be thrilled if someone did that for you?

AW Admin said:

With any kind of writing, the thing to ask yourself is "who is my audience?"

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For a pro web site I suggest our readers are ones who would be likely to buy our books. So our posts would be about the topics which are most likely to figure in our books, though maybe indirectly. If you write historical novels, and are also a fan of horses and equitation, you might post about recent and upcoming events at horse shows.

In my case my most recent posts include several about aerospace or electronic tech stuff. Also ones about movies or TV shows my readers would like and may have missed ads for. A couple including Youtube videos of Argentine tango dancing, something I've done for almost 25 years. And videos of several movie stars whom I love who have done something amusing or amazing. (Example: Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway engaging in lip-sync battle!)

AW Admin said:

... given the difficulty readers have finding good books when there are so very many to choose from, I encourage everyone who blogs about anything to consider blogging about books they love/like/find interesting.

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Good point. We can also post about other writing-related topics, such as conventions we may attend, and blogs by other writers whom we are fans of.

More generally, though writing is a solitary profession, we also belong to a community of writers - or can. Most of whom support each other as well as ourselves. A blog/site which joins that community can help us not only professionally but offset some of the emotional distance which can afflict us because of our profession.

I write what I like and usually what I like has something to do with politics, current events, entertainment, sports, music, or whatever it is I'm interested in.

I write what I like and hope someone else will as well. But I don't cater and I don't pander. If I wanted to do that I'd write about nothing but Trump, Kardashians, pop stars and porn.

I have multiple blogs, and I write whatever I want in all of them. However, I try to keep the topics somewhat aligned to the tone of the blog and the genre of writing it relates to. For example, travel-related blogs go on my romance blog, since travel is a big element in a lot of my romances. That's more of a directly related topic, but I also blog about being a strong woman, finding peace within yourself, growing, healing, etc. These things aren't directly related, but a lot of my characters are going through similar things, so it does relate back in some way.

The way I see it, the things that interest me come across in my work, so blogging about whatever interests me is okay. For what it's worth, my writing-related blogs get the least views of anything I work on.

I'm hyper-focused. I've picked two topics (the craft of fiction, and how feminism interacts with the fantasy genre) and I've stayed pretty close to them. I briefly considered posting my own work, but decided that because there are a lot of how-to articles, I'd like to make it more about discussing craft and less about my own writing. Though because I'm allegedly building an author platform, this might have to change. But otherwise, no politics, no cat videos, no personal essays.

I try to stick to writing because that's what my readers have come to expect. However, I can't help but shake things up and go on a random tangent now and then.

I touch on many subjects. Maybe too many subjects. (I'm trying to streamline things somehow - my blog is definitely a WIP). The subjects on the blog have to do with subjects that might interest those who read my short stories. So I think it's all related. If I were to have a published novel, I would probably start a blog just for serious writing and to promote those novels. For now, I've only had short stories published, so the blog is just a landing site for all my interests.