What won’t you blog about?

 

photo by agahran via PhotoRee


I like to think I blog like I talk… honestly. I have written about my lady garden, my first smear, losing my virginity and my pelvic floor (sorry Dad, I probably should have warned you about these ones) and this doesn’t embarrass or concern me in any way. The blog and I are very similar, curly and candid!

I occasionally post pictures of the kids and write about them (gloat about how perfectly wonderful they are when not doing what little boys do when they think Mummy isn’t watching) but am mindful that the internet is a very big world and down the line my boys will be able to read anything I’ve written about them. I’d hate  them to be embarrassed by anything I’d written (I’m saving all that for the 18th birthday’s).

I write about Roy sometimes but not often, he is such a huge character I’m not sure I could confine him to a blog post. He trusts me to write about him any way I like. We are best friends as well as husband and wife and he knows I would never betray that trust and write something cringe-worthy (I actually can’t think of anything that I could write about that would make him cringe but if there was, I wouldn’t!).

Topic-wise there is little I won’t write about and not much offends me. If I happen upon a post that someone else has written that I don’t like for whatever reason then I stop reading, I can unfollow that blog, I’m not forced to comment. That is the beauty of the internet, I have the choice.

There is a huge amount of varied content out there to be enjoyed and to learn from. Every type of post contributes in some way, it may teach you something and it may make you question what you find acceptable.

Is there a line? Should there be a line? What won’t you blog about?

 

Blogging Pressure

Do you feel pressured when it comes to blogging? Over the last few weeks and months my timelines have been littered with tweets and status messages about people feeling they “have” to blog.

Really need to blog today, didn’t do one yesterday

I need to do some posts but I just can’t think of anything to write?!”

Seeing messages like these sadden me. For the most part, people blog for themselves, for fun, for their families and for an outlet. It seems that when they start they thoroughly enjoy it but it can become a chore, why is that?

I love blogging, it’s an outlet for me, it’s fun. I can use Curly&Candid for whatever I like, to share recipes, family news, debates, to discuss world events or to campaign. It’s a tool, a thing… it’s not “me“. If I don’t blog one day, two days or a week I don’t worry that the blog might cease to be or that I will implode. The day that I wake up and feel I have to blog is the day that I stop blogging. I don’t think anyone needs that pressure.

I hear lots about link-ups, again how people MUST make sure they do it. I’m pretty sure no-one who runs a linky would want people to feel this pressure to perform as it were. Britmums now have a weekly blog prompt, and although this isn’t something I would use myself, for some I expect it can  be fun /useful; will it however become another of these things that people feel they have to do? I hope not.

At what stage do you feel like you have to blog, when did it become a job, do you feel the pressure to keep up with everyone else?

Social media is the greatest tool and sometimes the worst de motivator. The recent surge of “experts” popping up from nowhere ready to tell you how to blog better and how to be the best blogger don’t help. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve your bloggy technical expertise or  work on your writing style and sites such as Blogger.ed (which I highly recommend!) are a fantastic resource of info and advice.  I just think that overall bloggers can be bombarded with info on what they should rather than being offered hints, tips and advice.

So where does it come from, is the pressure forced upon us as a blogger by social media and the blogosphere or do we pile it upon ourselves? This is an issue I’m genuinely curious about. What do you think?