Maybe you do it because you want to have a voice in the world, even if it is only a whisper of a voice in a tiny corner of one very small closet of a crowded room at the far-end wing of a world-sized hotel. Maybe you do it to impact people in a positive way. Perhaps you were born a writer and if you don’t write, it feels like there is a distinct possibility that you don’t really exist.
Or maybe? You do it because you have a business and it helps pay the bills. Or your love language is words of encouragement and you love you some comments. Maybe you do it so far-away Aunt Patsy Lou can see the kids without you having to print out photos. Or you like when people agree with you. OR you like to stir the pot.
(the obligatory photo b/c emily can’t. post. without. a photo.)
I’m not saying the purpose of your blog has to be noble or world-changing. I’m just trying to convince you that you have one. You could write privately. There is a reason why you choose to write in public. And knowing that purpose can save you time, can keep you sane and can help you know when to say no. Or yes, depending.
If you already clearly know your purpose or if your blog is just a space for you to vent randomly and you are happy with that, then these questions may not matter to you. But if, as some of you mentioned in yesterdays comments, you are at an impasse with why you blog and what to do next, I hope these simple questions can help to nudge you in the right direction.
Which posts make you nervous when you hit publish? Nervous in a good way, because what you said there in that post was really important to you and you hope it is well received.
Which posts feel like work or drudgery? You do these because you feel like you should or you are supposed to. Chances are if you don’t like those posts, we don’t either. Or if we do, then you are attracting an audience of readers who will continue to demand things from you that you don’t like giving.
On which posts do you receive the most comments? These may give a hint as to the type of readers you have…
On which posts do you receive the most comments that mean something to you? …but these posts give a hint as to where your passion and the passion of the reader intersect. Bingo!
What are your top three favorite posts? Simple, I know. I never said this was rocket science.
If you could have a blog about anything but didn’t worry about if other people would read it, what would it be? Give yourself permission to answer this one honestly.
Do you still love what you write about?
And one thing NOT to ask:
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -Howard Thurman
So there you have it. I’m not asking you to answer these qustions for me, I’m just offering them for you to think about for you, as this is a portion of what we talked about at She Speaks. I hope it is helpful in some way.
44 comments
What a great series of questions. I know I started out blogging because I just wanted to write, and I could change the layout and background and be creative so I chose this format instead of journaling. But then (famous words, huh?) I found out people kinda liked what I had to say. At least the ones that keep coming back did anyway.
I use my blog as a catch all for what is going on in my life. The main purpose is to write about my faith walk but since I can’t separate that from the rest of me, I write about all sorts of things. They all tend to blend together to make a somewhat coherent blog in the end.
As for the rest of your questions, well, my brain has asked for more time to think them through.
Oh, and I didn’t know if you really wanted to see our favorite posts, but since you asked (and you have the “delete power” If you don’t want them) they are:
http://focused-on-the-center.blogspot.com/2009/07/intimate-encounter-with-jesus.html
http://focused-on-the-center.blogspot.com/2008/06/have-you-ever-heard-promise-laugh.html
http://focused-on-the-center.blogspot.com/2009/03/plus-one-to-one.html
Great thoughts and questions! I suddenly feel like I understand myself better. And the way drops of tears fall onto my keyboard as I jab out my heart’s secrets springs into meaning. My blog is my space to be. Just to be me. I do wish only strangers would read my words, not extended family members. I muffle my posts in the gauze of sister, daughter, niece, wife and mother and somewhere in there the little voice of me can get lost. But I am learning to peel back the layers and not carry the boulder of who is glimpsing the truth in me, but rather shrug off that weight and write like there is no tomorrow. Because if I do not, I stay asleep. Blogging has allowed me to step into a hidden room – and it is a captivating place, streaming with light and fragrance. It is where I worship and allow myself to stand exposed before my Creator and set Him first. What a priviledge. Thanks for your probing thoughts – they serve to prompt and encourage further refining of purpose. Delicious.
Really good questions to ask. I think the one that gave me the most pause was the drudgery/work question. I know just which posts those are, for me. I have been trying to decide for some time now whether I want to continue them or not…
ooo… such great questions! and although i am not at that impasse… i am still pondering and figuring out what my answers might be. i love the part about being that tiny whisper of a voice in a tiny corner… and i love your picture. glad you “had” to use it
Such great questions! I have to admit, I’ve had thoughts over the past few days of just eliminating my blog altogether–a simple delete and all that vulnerability could be gone. But, as you said, the question would then remain, “would I write if no one was reading?” And I’m not so sure I would. Maybe a little, but not like I do now.
I just like to stir the pot
Great questions. Ones I am going to work on answering for myself over the next couple of days.
i love this post. there have been many times i wondered what the heck i was doing when i had my work blog @ broadway paper. i also had a personal blog where i shared my life thoughts and inspirations.
i found myself continually strained trying to find things to write about and stay on top of things competing with the likes of decor8 and designsponge {in my head of course!}. it was stressful.
whereas, my personal blog was a release for me.
so when i sold the store and started a photog business, i decided to keep just one blog. take it or leave it, it was me and i wasn’t going to stop sharing my personal inspiration, faith and thoughts. and because i’ll always be a paper freak at heart and love finding cool things to share … i decided to roll it all up into one.
i’ve never been happier. it’s something i do for me. a record of where i was and who i {and my family} am/are.
thank you for sharing this post and these thoughts … i think it’s a great reminder for me to go back to if and when i am ever feeling ‘lost’ in my blogging.
happy weekend!!
I am definitely going to answer these. I do struggle with what to write about almost daily. Not wanting to lose my blogging friends but speaking from my heart (and what God wants me to write about is a big part of my blogging!) Thanks for this post, Emily! You are a true inspiration!
Mercy! That quote may have just changed my life. Okay, so maybe not changed my life but it will certainly stick with me for a few days and has the potential to become a favorite. Thanks for the focus questions for those of us with bloggy-ADHD!
Great questions and great quote!!
I think my blog began as an everybody-is-doing-it thing. It became a writer’s vent, an artist’s palette, a musing zone. I compartmentalized my serious thoughts to this blog, my random thoughts to that blog, my baby to the other blog. I couldn’t justify putting it all together. Over the last couple of years, however, a purpose emerged. An experiment, really. A mission. I’ve never been a terribly private person; anyone may know what I know of myself, if they have the courage to ask. It started with a question: is it possible for someone to see God at work in me if I share me, and not all the constipated jargon I grew up hearing?
If I had to define a purpose, I would say that my blog is the place where I share about the Life I have in Him. And about the mistakes I make. And about my thoughts and struggles and musings and revelations.
I told God once I wanted to be one girl who would live and die for Him, but as I’ve come to know Him more, I realize that the story isn’t about the one girl. It is about the One God, and how He chooses to reveal Himself through this weak and foolish girl He is making His own. He gave me words and feelings and thoughts and writing to put them all together. And this is why I blog.
And it is SO fun to get a taste of what got shared at She Speaks! Thank you so much!!!
I started my blog this spring because I wanted to use a forum that would help me transfer the warm relationships and the ministry I’ve found with other women into a medium that would let me reach (and encourage) more people. I love to write, have scribbled in journals for years, and have occasionally written an article for a publication. I have been a speaker, teacher, counselor, and ministry leader for a number of years.
But in some odd way, the blog has become something I did not design in the beginning. It has been evolving. The posts dearest to me are not the ones my readers love most. They are the ones, ironically, that I felt impressed in my prayer time to write, the ones that sometimes feel as if someone else were writing them through me, the ones that got written fast and released reluctantly with great uncertainty.
On some level I can’t quite understand, my blog is increasingly about what God wants to say to his loved ones. It is a mystery to me. I can’t explain it, and I don’t understand it. I feel like a child learning to write, learning to make sentences, learning to read. It’s very humbling.
As if you haven’t give me enough to process already, now I have to answer these questions for myself. Truthfully, this is going to be a difficult but much-needed {even though much-avoided} task. Thank you so much for taking the time to help out your non-conference-going sisters.
Wonderful Qs Emily… I’ve sort of gone through a transition of my own with my blog – without even realizing it. And now, oh how I love it so. I hadn’t heard of the quote by Howard Thurman, but it basically sums up my mantra with blogging now.
I’m going to print that and stick it on my inspiration board. Happy Friday!
I’ve been trying to answer the question of why I blog since your post yesterday. Honestly, it’s still surprising to me that I even started it back in January. I originally planned to document the journey we’ve been on for 2 years now of selling our home and building a new one. But it’s been such a long, emotional process that I feel like I’m mostly just whining whenever I write about that these days (we’re still not finished) I’m not like many of the other commenters, in that I never particularly enjoyed writing classes in school, I’m intensely private, my boys are teenagers so they don’t enjoy cameras in their faces, and my parents live 10 minutes from me. I truly believe God has a purpose in all this, but it may involve more receiving on my end than giving.
What great questions. I have been blogging now for 3 months and am loving it. It feels like a true passion and reading through these questions helped me realize that I think I am on the right track with the direction of my blog. Thanks!
Really enjoyed these two posts about bloggy purpose. It’s a good thing to take a moment to think about.
My blog started because I kept finding interesting houses that I wanted to show people. I used to e-mail links and photos to friends and family, even though they weren’t really interested. Ha. I decided to try to find people who would care a little more! (Who knew there were so many out there?)
The only blogs I had read at that point were ones for writers (I work as a writer). I didn’t even know there were billions of decor blogs and thought I was doing something different. In other words, I really had no idea what I was doing.
I’ve always considered house-gawking as entertainment. My blog is all about, “Look at this! Have you see that? Isn’t this crazy? Isn’t that beautiful?”
Oh Emily,
What well written words. They will flit and float around my head all weekend. There have been a handful of times when I’ve wanted to delete it all from public viewing. To crawl under my proverbial covers and hide. But most days, I can’t imagine my life without this place, these pages, where I make myself available and vulnerable. And oh the lessons I’ve learned about myself here. And the battles with demons of all kinds, from narcissism to envy to greed and many more besides. It has brought out the best and the worst in me. I constantly re-evaluate my motivations and priorities. I am forever scaling back, limiting the time I spend here, because it can easily take over the mind and heart. It’s a perfect slave but not a good master.
I really wanted to be there to hear you girls and give you hugs of support. I am so glad that you and the Nester are here, leading the way for us, asking the tough questions. And using this medium to its’ best possible potential.
Hugs,
edie
Thank you for your suggestions on how to define your blog. Mine is really just a mish mash about home and our family farm. I wanted to blog so that people could get to know me better. Then I kept blogging because my sister was so excited. Then my Aunt started reading daily (she is severly limited in her ability to leave the house). Now I do because it’s fun
When I slumped over the keyboard , with wine and lamplight, I was walking on a Lenten journey. Back into myself, forward into forgiveness, and ready to veer off where called.
I still feel authentic in that purpose, although overwhelmed at all the possibilities and ideas. Things will no doubt change and adapt. I might even get a sitemeter:)..
I now fill transported in the community of diverse and inspiring souls who create. That it transcends the mundane, captures the essence of all the why and how. It’s like we’re all wishing on stars together, no matter who we are, and the words to the dreams keep coming to me.
Thank you for sharing some of your She Speaks talk with us… what great questions! I am pretty new to blogging, so I am really loving these questions to help me figure it all out!
Your She Speaks session was so great! I need to analyze these questions myself. That quote at the end is perfect.
i’m going to answer these on my blog. lots to think about.
I echo everyone’s thought – these are great questions.
And perhaps I’m a bit slow, but I just noticed the change in your banner. I love it. This truly is a place for my soul to breathe. Thank you.
Beautiful…just beautiful. I’m definitely keeping this post in my files!
I began blogging just over a year ago as a way to share heart and home inspiration, encouraging other women to Create Welcoming Homes. I hadn’t read too many blogs, but it just seemed like an easy & fun way to express my creativity and share with other women! And yet as time wore on, blogging sometimes has honestly felt not too fun. I’ve come to realize that I’d let thoughts of “what everyone else would think” cloud my original purpose. My focus (though it wavers at times) really is to be true to what God is leading me to share, whether for the heart or for the home, regardless of what others think or what’s “popular”. Doesn’t mean my posts aren’t sometimes silly or lighthearted, but that I’m staying true to my heart.
Such a wonderful quote at the end, too!
Thank you for these thought-provoking questions!!
Blessings,
Stacey
Great questions, indeed. Thanks!
I also struggle with ‘blooming where I’m planted’ at times, and remembering to esteem the way God has gifted me so it’s nice to be reminded of that. Great quote!
I started to journal on Caring Bridge after being diagnosed with Stage IIIC Ovarian Cancer as a way to get the emotions out, to let my friends & family know how I was doing without having to tell the story over and over again. It felt as if I was writing just for me – I cannot tell you how many people said I should write a book.Me? Ah, I don’t think so.
The to journal became a jealousy issue with some family members – if I mentioned someone’s name and someone else didn’t KNOW I had spoke to them – it was like a bad soap opera and I gave up. I did not want to edit myself any longer.
So I joined the blogging world again about 1 month ago for me and only for me. Yes, it’s out there for the world to see – but they don’t know me, my family & friends don’t know my blog exists, and after being in remission now for about 19 months I’ve finally developed the isolating depression that goes along with keeping stuff locked up inside – things I would never let myself think about while battling cancer. And it helps. And it’s mine…..all mine.
Interesting to read everyone’s perspective. I think blogging has come alive espeicially for women because we are so verbal. AND many stay at home moms (like myself) need someplace for all those words getting backlogged in our brains to land.
I started blogging in the fall of 2006. And it was an honest to goodness journaling effort. I didn’t even think about the “public” or “private” aspect of it becuase I never thought anyone other than friends or family would ever read about my thoughts and life.
As I have become aware that a few “strangers” are reading my blog now too…I admit I sometimes am a little more reserved about certain things…almost like a shy girl on a stage. I do take a step back and think a little more about what I am putting out there.
But mainly it is a celebratory blog for me. I spent so many years questioning my purpose as a person. Now, althoug I LOVE design (interior designer was my previous career aspiration..), I do NOT want a design blog.Because although I am a designer at heart..I am not WORKING all day at that. What I do all day is be a mom,friend, wife, and sister. I use my blog as a place to chronicle the special moments of life with my husband and children and our home.
It’s wonderful to affirm to the world that you are happy to be where you are, doing what you are doing, and living life the best way you possibly can. For me, it’s theraputic, as I am sure it is for many others. And that’s about it.
I started to journal on Caring Bridge after being diagnosed with Stage IIIC Ovarian Cancer as a way to get the emotions out, to let my friends & family know how I was doing without having to tell the story over and over again. It felt as if I was writing just for me – I cannot tell you how many people said I should write a book.Me? Ah, I don’t think so.
Then the journal became a jealousy issue with some family members – if I mentioned someone’s name and someone else didn’t KNOW I had spoke to them – it was like a bad soap opera and I gave up. I did not want to edit myself any longer.
So I joined the blogging world again about 1 month ago for me and only for me. Yes, it’s out there for the world to see – but they don’t know me, my family & friends don’t know my blog exists, and after being in remission now for about 19 months I’ve finally developed the isolating depression that goes along with keeping stuff locked up inside – things I would never let myself think about while battling cancer. And it helps. And it’s mine…..all mine.
What a great exercise! I needed this! Last weekend, several of my favorite bloggers were at SheSpeaks and I realized I was missing a lot of good stuff! Thanks for bringing a little bit of the conference to those of us who couldn’t be there or never even considered going.
This is my first visit. I like your blog and I also visited In Courage. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing the list of questions! This really helps me as I’m trying to refine my blog and what I write about. I want it to be meaningful and important. These questions (and my answers!) help me to know that I’m on the right track. I still have some refining to do, but I’m definitely getting there. Thanks!
Good questions. I will answer just one, for lack of time and space and because you said we do not have to answer them, anyway. Which posts make me nervous:
(1) the ones about my children — blogging about little children is one thing, but sharing the lives of grown ones are another because they may have different viewpoints and they usually want some privacy and not having Mom blab about them to the whole world (literally); so I pick and choose carefully and stick to “just the facts, ma’am”
(2) Monday Morning Meditations — these are very special to me because I do these meditations for real but I am a recent convert to the faith, so what do I know, really? They are my personal reactions, shared. I am just waiting for someone knowledgeable and say, “What on earth made you think that?!”
I happened to find this post and I love what it says. When I blogged just for family & friends, I thought less about what I was doing. Then House Beautiful made a mention, and all the sudden, now I worry about readers, and fans, and analytics and why am I not retaining visitors(sounds like retaining water), and how do you get to 300,000 page views, etc.
Also, since my taste tends to run toward the modern side of things, I also worry about how much I should mention faith, as I am in the minority. I guess I will figure it out, with lots of prayer. Thanks again!
[...] about paint and fabric today} She and I spoke this summer at She Speaks and she came up with these 7 questions to help people be able to refine the focus/purpose of their blog. I thought it was [...]
Emily,
It was an absolute pleasure to meet you (however short it was). It’s always wonderful to meet folks you admire from afar and them be just as nice in person as you hope they would be.
When I was in college as a professional writing major, my favorite professor told me to major in what you love and you will get a job doing what you love. It worked. And now, I write about what I love. That was the best advice I’ve ever received, and these questions just confirm what I already knew.
You’re so smarticles and stuff!
Hugs,
Gina
I’m trying to find my footing on the blog road. This is most helpful. Thanks for the transparency and insight.
This is a great post that will help me with my blog. Figuring out which are my 3 favorite/best posts and how many comments received… great questions. Thanks!!
Great stuff! Thanks so much Emily. These are great thought starters and I kind of feel like I have permission to focus on what I love and not worry about the rest
[...] 7 questions to ask yourself in order to find your niche (via Nester). [...]
I just wanted to thank you again for sharing these questions at Blissdom. They really inspired me as I examine how to blog on my own terms.
These are fantastic tips, thank you for sharing! On this subject, you might enjoy this post as well: http://www.finslippy.com/finslippy/2010/01/a-few-words-about-fear.html I came across it the other day and it has given me a lot of inspiration.
Again, thanks for this great advice! It’s some of the best coverage of this subject that I’ve seen.
[...] to Love March 12, 2010 by theorganizedshopper Lately I’ve been thinking more about defining my bloggy purpose, and spending more time reading other people’s blogs than writing for my [...]