Sunday, January 4, 2009

Lessons learned (or learning)

Well, this experiment of an attempted daily blog directed at a wider audience than before is already teaching me a few things. For starters, as I was composing and posting my previous entry about our trip to the beach, I was conscious that this is not really what I want to be putting up here, because I can't imagine that it's interesting for anyone else to read, beside family and a few friends, and maybe not even then! I wasn't adding value to anyone's day with that post, which is what I'm aiming to do here.

The photos were straight family shots, not anything artistic, not framing anything in a new/unusual/beautiful way. And, I didn't have anything super interesting to say! I think that sums up why the post didn't work!

I was talking about it with my partner later, and he wondered whether the pressure of blogging every day might lead to me posting boring stuff, just for the sake of getting something on the blog for the day. I've been wondering about this too, wondering how to work my way towards a a sustainable blogging practice while recognising that posting something regularly makes a blog more interesting. Soulemama is a case in point - I love that she posts so often; I often check my Google Reader to see if there's anything new over there. The difference is, she has interesting stuff to say!

I reckon, with a bit of planning, you can sustain a daily/regular practice by drawing on different creative streams. So for me on this blog those streams might be: ideas/musings on the simple joys of domesticity; things I've made/acts of creativity; ideas for more things to make - more of my original ideas, say, not things I've made where I'm following a pattern or someone else's idea; and formulaic but fun posts, like interesting things found on Etsy, or cool tutorials found on the net, or Thrifted Thursday, or Ten Things I'm Loving Right Now, etc.

However, even if I had a plan like this (and I may well experiment with that soon!), there's still a total art in taking a photo that captures a moment, and combining it with text that's inspiring and beautiful, and doing so almost every day! That's what Soulemama is able to do, and why we're all in awe of her!

Anyway, it's all good food for thought. Cos the trip to the beach fitted right in with the kind of life I want to create this year - spontaneous family fun, outdoors, in touch with nature! But how to document it so that it's useful or interesting to anyone else, that's my question?

What makes a blog valuable to you, especially if you don't know the person writing it?

1 comment:

Monica said...

Hmmm .... that's a good question. I agree, that if you're wanting to create a blogging presence regular posts are key. I wonder if blogher.com would have any suggestions?

What keeps me coming back? I've mulled over this question myself. For sure regular, daily posts. Also, very important for me is a sense that the writer is being authentic and not trying to 'copy' someone else. And from you, I always sense authenticity, and can hear you saying just what you're writing. Just don't change that! A usefulness or relevance to my daily life is important. And then just something inspirational or funny. Something that inspires but doesn't make me feel like a failure b/c it's something I never would/could/had time to do. Do you know what I mean?

If I think of anything else I'll let you know.