Blogs

What to blog or what not to blog…that is the question

/ markmkane / 2 Comments

I’m not too sure if other bloggers encounter this dilemma but I go through this week after week.  Granted some bloggers write every two weeks, once a month or every couple of months while other write on a daily basis.  For me, I try to blog about something at least once a week; guess it’s the writer in me that needs to do this on a consistent basis.  I’m sure that all of us go through this, just trying to figure out what to blog or what not to blog about.

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 Some people specifically have an area of expertise or subject matter that can yield tons and tons of topics to cover, I unfortunately am not the case.  After a year of blogging, you’d think I’d have a host of things to talk about but that’s not the case. 

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 I think for me the main struggle is in figuring out what to say or what not say.  A couple of instances, I got an idea and soon realized that I blogged about it in a previous post.  Other times when the well ran dry and I ended up grasping for straws on a topic; it felt like I put in half the effort on something that should’ve required 110%.  I never realized the dilemma I’m in week after week; it’s harder that working on a screenplay.

 Okay, it’s not the worst place to be in but I always like to try and blog about something that’s interesting.  I’ve perused other sites and I’ve noticed that they’ve constantly posted stuff that’s cool and mind-blowing.  How do they do that?!  Do they even have that problem of deciding what to write about?!  Now if I could only do the same, guess not all of us are gifted in that aspect.    

If I could only get into their mindset when they’re preparing to blog then maybe I could get a perspective on how I could go about doing my blog.  Life would be much simpler.  BUT, that’s not the case for me.  Nothing ever comes easy and I accept that. 

 Maybe what to blog or what not to blog is not the question I should be asking myself, instead it should be “Do I enjoy blogging?” or “Is it worth my time?”  As you can see from this post, it’s an emphatic – YES!

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To Blog or Not To Blog

/ markmkane / Leave a comment

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With my one year anniversary of have a blog site coming up, I looked back and wondered what would’ve been if I didn’t start this venture.

Before I started all of this, I had a few misconceptions about bloggers.  The three things that stuck out were: ONE – it was easy to create a site, TWO – everyone was doing it to become famous and THREE – you needed to be an expert on a subject to post things about.

I strongly resisted the urge to be a part of this because I thought that I’d be wasting my time that should otherwise be devoted to my screenwriting craft.

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For years I continued to pursue my dreams and had forgotten all about blogging.  One fateful day my manager, who’s VERY social media savvy, recommended that I create a blog site and put myself out there and promote myself and my stories.

“Oh great…GRRR…do I really have to do this!?” I thought with disgust.  I procrastinated in starting this new journey and was making all kinds of excuses in my head as to why I’ll never enjoy this.

Apprehension was always in the background when I started to do research on how to start a blog site.  I engrossed myself in any and all available info that was accessible; soon that hesitation started to diminish and a sense of wonderment and encouragement set in.

The thought that “You know what, I really think I can do this” popped into my brain and my mindset was that I was now “ALL IN.”

When I first started, I thought that I was going to have my site up in a couple of hours and would be posting on it soon after.

Boy was I wrong.  Creating a blog site was not easy and creating one that would fit my needs was even more daunting.  It took a couple of months to get it to suit my needs but it still is a work in progress.

Once I got my site up and running, the next step was posting to it.  What was I going to write?  How long should it be?  What if no one likes it?  All these thoughts and more started to creep in and anxiety set in.  Damn…whatever I write will be out there for all to see; that was a scary feeling.

Despite all my fears, I “manned up” and published my first post.  That wasn’t so bad.  A week after that I posted another story on something mundane.  The following week it was a random post about my kids.

I started reading all the other bloggers out there and was surprised (and relieved) at what I found.  My fellow bloggers were posting about a lot of things: their experiences, historical accounts, traveling, writing, pets, friends, foods, anything and everything.

It was amazing to see the cornucopia of topics bloggers everywhere talked about.  Some of the writing were eloquent, while others were simple and straightforward; it was quite refreshing reading all of this.

Some wrote to just get things off their chest, while others wrote in hopes of helping others; I connected with people whom I never me all because of their posting.  I connected with people whom I never met all because of their posts.  It was truly AMAZING!

The more I wrote, the more I felt comfortable.  When I got my first “LIKE” and “Comment”, I was ecstatic to the point where I jumped off my chair and danced around like a giddy child on Christmas day.

This encouraged me to continue on and write on subjects that I would never even think of.  I ventured into other types of writing that even helped my style of writing. 

“What was I so afraid of?” I thought.  Fast track to a year later, my mindset now is “I should’ve started blogging years ago.” 

For anyone that is thinking about starting a blog, all I can say is “GO FOR IT!”  It’s a way to get yourself out there and share what you have to offer to others.  You’ll be interested to find that there are others that share your same dreams, feelings, experiences, passion and humor.

Don’t be afraid.  The only question that you should ask yourself is whether…”To Blog or Not To Blog.”

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