Recently the lovely Jo at Leery Polyp wrote about losing her niche. She started out writing about, among other things, her infertility. Now she has two gorgeous daughters and is, in her words, “blundering niche-less through parenting bloggery.” I, along with other commenters , hastened to point out that, niche or no, Jo is a wonderful writer and we’ll all read whatever she chooses to write about. And, lucky us, she agreed to do so.
Which begs the question, do you need a niche to be a successful blogger? (My immediate reaction is, no, but you do need to start blogging about six years ago.) And, if so, what’s mine? I don’t remember how I found the first blogs I ever read (Poundy and TranceJen). I read them in the months when I was in grad school, living across the country from my sick mom, and feeling bleh about one and horribly, unwaveringly miserable about the other. I loved these funny women, who were willing to be so open about their lives, who distracted me from mine. Coincidentally, they were both in Chicago, which nicely fed into my homesickness.
Then, I stopped reading. Probably because I got a job and some therapy and started leaving my apartment, you know…ever. A few years ago, while reading Salon.com, I just randomly clicked over to A Little Pregnant, and happened upon this entry. I laughed out loud, showed the entry to a dozen people, standing over their shoulders while they read it, and laughed out loud again each time. So I read the archives, mostly laughing, sometimes crying. I am, if I do say so myself, a ridiculously fast reader, and I always have a book going. But this? This was appealing in a whole different way. When I read a book that I enjoy, I always have one eye on the pages left, aware of the impending ending (hee). I loved the idea of reading excellent writing with no set ending. But then I caught up to her, and wondered, “What now?”
Aaaand…I’ll have to finish that thought tomorrow, because the baby is now awake. Also? If I’m going to post every day, there’s no point rushing anything. Maybe I’ll get two or (checks calendar, counts days) twenty-four more posts out of it.
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