Blogging the Distance

I think I've been blogging five years, now. I'm always a bit shaky on dates, so it could be a while longer. When I started out, I was enthusiastic and had multiple posts every day. Thank goodness for the emergence of Twitter and Facebook which take that overflow of ideas.

My blog is small. But it's part of my website, so updating it is a good way to flag to Google and other search engines that my website is active with new content.

One of the ways that I ensure regular posts is a weekly column. Every Monday I share a "Flower Fortune". The idea for this came from my love for photography (even if I'm not very good at it) and a decision to brand my author self as "a hopeful romantic". So now, every week, I share a photograph of a flower and a few paragraphs along the lines of an inspirational star sign prediction.

I can't say that Flower Fortunes bring me loads of new blog followers, but I have had some lovely compliments and that is encouraging. It also means I'm a content creator as well as a curator (which is mainly what I do on Facebook and Twitter - i.e. share articles I've found).

In between the weekly inspirational posts, I post my writing news and occasional advice posts. Most recently, I've been obsessed with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited lending library and algorithms.

The important thing when blogging is to be realistic about what you can commit to delivering. Your blog is part of your promise to readers, part of your brand. If you can leverage a hobby or interest, that's a win (and makes it seem less like hard work).

What do you blog about?

Can We Talk?

(And yes, I am channeling the late, great Joan Rivers.)

I have to tell you right now that I’m not feeling the blogging thing lately. It’s always been a struggle for me to come up with something to say that doesn’t seem overly promotional, or know-it-all-writery (I don’t know it all, and I don’t think I have any business giving writing advice), or fakely personal in order to “build my brand” as this fascinating, witty person whose books you’ll all want to read.

I’ve written four blog posts so far tonight and this one is the closest to being even remotely fit for public consumption. So I’m just going to throw in the towel and turn the tables on you (and mix up a bunch of metaphors into an awkward stew), and ask you what you want me to talk about.

What are you looking for when you come to a book blog or a writer’s blog? What do you like to read about? Are you tired of hearing about an author’s latest release or her writing process, or is that what you really want to know?

Since it’s a Saturday, I have the rare luxury of being able to check back frequently and make this a little conversation throughout the day, if anyone’s so inclined (after a reasonable wake-up time on the US West Coast—reasonable to me being noonish). So this one’s on you, Obsessive Reader. Ask me anything. ;)