So not long after wrapping up my last webcomic, I created this blog under my name. Still, over the years, I have struggled with getting a mix of topics that is right for me. In a world of specialized blogging, I've often ended up bouncing from one piece of advice to another, without seeing how to bring it all together. I wondered if my blog was saying what I wanted it to. I felt that the tags for my blog posts were not as spot-on as they could be. I struggled with what topics still have meaning for me and which of my skills are worth sharing with others.
Defining your topics as a multi-passionate blogger
A curator of personal interests and activities.
Reading that phrase was so relieving because I realized that yes, I can write about all the things that are interesting to me, and in fact, that's what I should be doing. So borrowing from Welburn's post, I asked myself, "What is interesting and inspiring to me right now?" and wrote a list.
That list is now my new list of tags. But I took a further step in defining what I write about.
Defining your skills as a multi-passionate blogger
- What would you say are my natural gifts, strengths, and passions?
- How do you think people can benefit from the gifts I have to offer?
Creating your blend
And remember, your blend is not set in stone. It can change over time, and that's okay. Your blog is a curation of your personal interests and activities, so it should always be growing and changing.
Finding your message as a multi-passionate blogger
What about them lights you up inside? What do you want to accomplish with your blog?
For more clarity, think of a metaphor to describe your blog. If your blog was an animal, a location, a color, or a song, what would it be? Why? When I thought over this question, I tried picking a metaphor for each item, and it helped me to look at my blog in a new way. After that, I picked the one metaphor that fits the best.
Then take your answers, and put them into a statement.
I am passionate about (what lights you up about these topics). The purpose of my blog is to (what you want to accomplish). I want my blog to feel/be like (your metaphor).
For example, here's my statement, "I am passionate about personal expression, finding meaning, and improving my craft. My purpose is to motivate others to grow and make lemonade from their personal lemons through writing and art."
This statement is an overarching statement. It's a simple way to tie together your diverse interests with a purpose and theme. You can even integrate the metaphor into the design of your blog. Then you can associate the look of your blog with your purpose. This isn't something I've put into practice yet, but more and more I think that a soft yellow accent may be a good fit for the energy I want to convey in my blog.
So in review...
To Find Your Blend as a Multi-passionate Blogger, try
- Defining your interests.
- Defining your shareable skills.
- Picking which topics will stand out from the rest.
- Using those topics to craft the purpose of your blog.
I hope that these tips will help give you some direction like they did for me. Do you know of any other good tips for multi-passionate bloggers? Feel free to share in the comments!
ā A Few Announcements & Updates ā
For the rest of this year, I am publishing only one blog post per month. I'm still working out if I'm going to post on the first Friday of the month or the last Friday... I'll give an update when I figure it out. The reason why I'm reducing how often I post is to give myself more time to create fiction and non-fiction books and stories. š