Toward a Better Blog

Let’s keep it real. We all dream of saving the world while knowing that we have trouble managing one tiny corner of the blogosphere. (Hmmm… corner? sphere? That can’t be right). At any rate, I’ve been thinking about the blog that I started in September and looking for ways to improve it (in addition to more content, better writing, and more promotion, of course).

The good news is that I’ve shown up pretty late for the party, so there are lots of good bloggers out there, and being who they are, they have written about it on the internet. The collective wisdom seems to be that, unless you are already a celebrity of one breed or another and the masses hang on every word you utter, a blog needs to target a specific audience.

As you might have noticed from my initial posts, I’m all over the place. Professionally I’m a non-fiction writer, so the writer’s life is of interest to me. However, the topics I write about range from native plants to dogs to all sorts of needlecrafts – not because these topics are randomly assigned, but because these are the things that interest me.

Naturally, I don’t write these articles for one publication. They each have a different target audience. Thinking that through was a bit of a light bulb moment for me. Ok maybe it was a slap the forehead, duh moment, but the result is this. Over the next few weeks, I will be launching and posting new content to several new blogs each focused on one of my areas of interest.

Native in the City will provide information about the value and use of native plants in gardening. I have already written many articles on this topic for regional publications targeting gardeners and landscape professionals.

Dog Dialogue will include articles and stories about dogs – their care and training, reviews of products and books and the biased opinions of Lady’s mom (me).

Stitching Times will offer stories and examples of a wide variety of needle oriented crafts using fabric, yarn, threads, beads and found things. These will be from my own catalog and from friends (actual and virtual). It will also provide a venue to gather input for my upcoming series of books called The Home Sewer’s Reference.

Contrarian Chronicles will provide information and opinions on topics local and global – some politics, some social commentary, and all targeted at a fairly broad front page audience. Hopefully this blog will generate some meaningful discussion without starting flame wars.

And finally, Ink Slinger Chronicles will become a place to write about writing and hear from others how they are living the writer’s life.

I may not post as often to any one blog, but readers will be better able to pick and choose which spot to watch. Hopefully we share some interests and you will let me hear from you.