Writing a Successful Blog

I met with a friend for lunch yesterday. It was a time to catch up, but also to talk about blogging. I have been more intentional about blogging this past month (mostly because I have had the time in which to do so) and she wanted to pick my brain for any suggestions as she started her own blog. I didn’t have much advice to give. Well, at least not advice that I actually had used in writing my blog. I told her she should have a catchy title, which also captures the essence of what her blog is about. “Jen’s Musings on Life and More”? Well, you know what it’s about (in a very vague way), but it’s not catchy and borders on feeling like a cliché. Although, I do think my other blog follows that advice (Husband Hunters). So, I’m one for two. I told her to set a schedule for regular blogging. Uh…excepting this past month, my posts are few and far between. On both sites. Finally, I recommended she set certain days as theme days (i.e. Wednesdays are funny posts). As that idea came to me I thought to myself “I should try that out”. However, knowing myself, that most likely will not come to fruition.

I have two friends who have started a blog. They have a great concept and have set up a regular rhythm for posting. They’re already being interviewed by other blogs and its one of the pages I follow most regularly right now. I kind of want my site to be that. I keep thinking of “Julie and Julia”, where in the end she gets a book deal. Somewhere in the back of my mind, there’s this hope that someone will read my blog and that will be the avenue to fame and fortune.

Blogging is a strange thing. There are parts of me that just want this to be a place to write honest words and encourage others into their own honesty. I want it to be a place for friends and family to keep up on my life. Yet, there is this quality about blogging, the fact that anyone could access these words, that hits neurotic places within me. See me, see me, see me! I want my writing here to be an aid to my growth as a creative person, not an aid to fill places of my heart that feel lacking. But some days, I just want to let it fill the places that only God can fill. At the end of the day, it’s a hard line to balance and I continually step onto both sides.