Finding Passion in Your Blog
I had that sense of recognition…here was something which I had known all my life, only I didn’t know it…
Ralph Vaughan Williams
A blogger recently contacted me with the announcement, “I finally found my passion on my blog! Thank you!”
I wasn’t sure why I was specifically being thanked, but I love it when people finally find their blogging path. Have you?
Here are some tips to help you find your blog purpose and passion:
- You think about blogging on the subject constantly, at work, at play, in the night.
- The subject is usually first in your head when you wake up in the morning.
- You keep coming back to the subject matter on your blog.
- It’s the largest collection of posts in your post categories.
- You find yourself smiling when you hit the Publish button.
- You can’t stop talking about it.
- Your friends start calling you the Queen of ____________ (or king).
- Your friends are tired of you talking about it.
Whatever “it” is, it is a clue to your blog passion.
I asked the blogger how her blog had changed after she’d been blogging on the subject for a few months.
It was as if a weight was lifted. I couldn’t get to my blog fast enough. Ideas poured out of my head. Before, I couldn’t figure out what to write. It was a constant struggle. Now, it’s like I don’t have enough words. I know I don’t have enough time to write all I want to write. It’s so much fun, but it’s work – and it’s not work. It’s fun work. I really enjoy the whole process now. Even the things I hated doing before are easier and more fun.
And the comments! The response! It’s like I’ve found a new group of friends, people who like me and what to hear what I have to say. The comments I’m getting are great now. They are really responsive. Contributing to the conversation. Helping each other. Helping me! I feel like I’ve found a family not just a blog.
Have you experienced this?
The author of Lorelle on WordPress and the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging for over 15 years, covering blogging, WordPress, travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development extensively as web technologies developed.
At the time a friend suggested that I blog, I commented that I didn’t think our lives were interesting enough for me to come up with sufficient material on which to blog. I don’t know if I was just looking at life differently then from the way I look at it now, or if our lives actually have become more interesting. But I have a hard time some days deciding on just one thing to serve as the framework for a particular blog post.
I do find myself now thinking often, “I need to remember to post something about this soon.” Or I find myself thinking before my wife and I go somewhere, “I need to be sure to get pictures or info in case this activity ends up being “blogworthy.” It’s a rather interesting phenomenon.
Something that really encouraged me last week was a private comment from a long-time reader who told me that he and his family have tried out a number of activites or place I’ve posted about on my blog that they had never heard of or thought about.
Thanks for posting this article, Lorelle. It’s good food for thought even though I generally think of my blog as being more about my readers than about myself – although much of the subject matter springs from what’s happening in my life. I try to use what we’re experiencing as a source of humor or blessing to my readers. If that outlook continues – thinking of others before self – then blogging will continue to be a worthwhile endeavor for me. My passion (after my Lord Himself) is others.
Having droned on long enough, I sign off….
passion is essential if you want your blog to succeed in whatever way you define that. passion is that force that drives the creation of ideas. good article.