Blog Topic Wrangling

So last week I gave you a bare bones lesson in blogging basics. I covered important topics like it takes 20,000 bloggers to change a light bulb, word verification on comments kills puppies and a bunny with a pancake on its head. Today we are going to be a little bit more serious and discuss a common problem with blogging.

Topics: Who, What, When, Where, Why.

Who:
There are so many "who"s in a blog conversation it sounds like a forest of Hoot Owls. "Who Who Who"

1st Who is YOU. You are the writer. Period. Be yourself and yourself only. If you try to blog in someone else's voice you are going to crash, be found out and suck. If you want to write about the danger of platform shoes, but you feel that everyone else is writing about the Academy's and you want to trend...at least write about someone's platform shoes that made them have cankles at the Academy's. If you don't write about your passion, then your writing will have NO passion.

2nd Who is your subject: This is where many newer bloggers make a mistake. Your boss ticks you off because he switched the office to single ply toilet paper. You find your on-line voice to be a perfect one for ranting about it. Your boss finds your blog. You will now be wiping with your hands. Be careful anytime you talk about someone. If you won't say it to their face, don't put it on your blog. It's that simple.

3rd Who is a guest star: So you simply can't think of anything to write or you are going out of town and you need material. Find you a guest star for the time. Loads of bloggers love to guest star, so reach out and grab you one. Just make sure that your guest star and you have similar values. If you have a "G" blog make sure your guest poster is aware that dropping the "F" bomb is not going to work and that they will have to stay up and hit the thesaurus to find other descriptive words. If they are single with no children, don't write about marital spats about disciplining children who stop up toilets.

What:
As I said earlier..."If you don't write about your passion, then your writing will have NO passion." I can't tell you how many times I tried to write about something that was trending that was really important (like politics, etc.) when I really wanted to talk about nasal pea removal. My post would fall flat and had no pizazz. Let me chat about 30 unique pea removal methods from an ear or nasal cavity...I could have knocked your socks off. Always write about what is ON your heart. Don't just try to put your heart into what you are writing.

When:
When do you blog on a topic? Whenever you can and as often as you can. If you can't get to a computer when you have a great idea, write it down. Right then. Don't hesitate, because you will NOT remember it later. If you get your ideas from the bathtub, keep those bathtub crayons for kids and jot it down on your bath wall. (Word to the wise: clean those words off your tub within 4 hours. I didn't know to do that and had this permanently on my bath wall for almost 3 months

Yup...fun times when I was showing the house to potential buyers.

Where:
On a blog. Duh.

Why:
Because it is your voice, your passion and you want to. That's really the only reason you need. If you need help finding a topic there are a ton of resources geared towards blog topics. Often though your topic is right under your nose. The best blog posts are your stories. Even a trip to the grocery store with your kids can make a rockin' blog post if you look for the adventure and life lessons in your activities.You always write better when it is something you have experienced and can put your true voice into.